Feet First: Grudges
by M306117
Summary: After being sent to the swamps of Haygobah, Fletcher returns to Canterlot in time for the second Equestrian-Griffin war and is sent behind enemy lines on a crucial mission. But in his absence Canterlot falls and the princesses taken prisoner.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter One

The hubbub of voices carried through the door and across to Fletcher as he loaded the last shell into the shotgun. He pumped the slide once and clamped it onto his back. To his left both princesses were sat, quietly thinking to themselves until the trial began. A gavel banged down outside and the three of them stood. A voice called out from the next room.

'All rise for their Royal Highnesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.' Fletcher pushed open the door and led the two sisters into the courtroom. It was filled with ponies who bowed at the sight of the Alicorns then sat when the princesses did. Fletcher took up position in front of them, scanning the assembled crowd for threats. Applejack, and a dozen others, was sat on a bench across from him. She looked uncomfortable and would occasionally steal a glance to the stands containing her friends and family for reassurance. Fletcher offered a wave when she looked at him, receiving a small smile back. The judge brought his gavel down twice.

'This court is now in session and will be overseeing the case of Isambard Hoofton vs. the Equestrian Court. Please bring in the defendant.' At the back of the room, a set of doors opened and the unicorn Fletcher had thrown in a jail was marched in. His legs were manacled together and a strange ring had been placed on his horn. Celestia had told Fletcher earlier it was to nullify his magical abilities. Isambard was led to one of two desks set before the judge's podium. He held a small sneer which vanished when he saw Fletcher. The human merely stared at him.

'Isambard Hoofton, you have been charged with fifteen counts of rape, twelve counts of bodily harm and three counts of murder by proxy. How do you plead?' The judge glanced down at the pony, a look of disgust on his. Maybe he had daughters of his own. Isambard stood, licking his lips nervously.

'Not guilty, your Honour.' The courtroom erupted into surprised whispers until the gavel was brought down again.

'We have sworn statements from twelve mares claiming you raped and beat them. All described your physical description and cutie mark exactly the same. Any attempt to waste this court's time will be viewed poorly and may incur a harsher sentence.' He leaned back. 'So, how do you plead?'

'Not guilty.' A few cries of outrage came from the stands. The judge banged his gavel down to restore order.

'If that is your answer, this court will now hear statements from the prosecution pertaining to your charges. If the prosecution would like to begin?' An Earth pony mare nodded and stood, brandishing a series of notes.

'Mares and gentlecolts of the jury, and the courtroom, Isambard Hoofton has been charged with raping and beating fifteen mares over the past twelve years, many of them when they had just gotten their cutie mark, some before. As a result of the attacks, three were driven to suicide and another four into depression. We have testimonies from each of the mares he attacked, as well as statements from close family members of those no longer with us. Each state that a unicorn matching the defendant's description and cutie mark made contact with each one before raping them.' She paused, letting the information sink in before continuing. 'Police investigations have also revealed that on the days immediately before and after each attack, Isambard Hoofton purchased train tickets to and from the areas where the mares were attacked. This, coupled with eye witness testimony, places him at the scene of every attack.' She was about to launch into her next item against the unicorn when the defence team objected. The judge allowed it.

'Your Honour, my client's purchase of those tickets is merely coincidental and was part of his job to visit other places to gather inspiration.'

'Fifteen times in a row is a little too coincidental for my liking, your Honour.' The Earth pony shot back. 'And your client was a structural engineer, not an architect. He job was to ensure all buildings in Canterlot were built correctly. Why would he need to visit other places for inspiration?'

'He could have uncovered a new method of construction to use.' The defence leader, a Pegasus stallion, said. 'And sometimes coincidences happen. My client didn't attack anypony once let alone fifteen times.' The two ponies threatened to butt heads until the judge brought his gavel down and ordered them to sit down.

'Prosecution, please continue.' The mare stood again.

'Until recently, police were unable to apprehend the culprit due to the victims refusing to speak out about the attacks. This, however, changed when one of the victims, a Miss Applejack Orchard, spoke to doctors and friends about the incident and produced an accurate drawing of Hoofton's cutie mark. It was then recognised by one of the Royal Guards who apprehended the suspect long enough for Miss Orchard to confirm his identity.'

'And who was this Royal Guard?' the judge asked.

'It was a specialist by the name of Michael Fletcher, personally responsible for both princesses.' She pointed at Fletcher. 'He recognised and detained the suspect.'

'Were there any others who saw this?'

'Yes. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They gave sworn statements detailing the moment.'

'Oh?' The judge looked at the three. 'Carry on.'

'Of course, your Honour.' She straightened out her notes. 'Prosecution wishes to call its first witness, Miss Applejack Orchard.' The farmer pony reluctantly stood, making her way to the witness stand. Isambard watched her go, smiling slightly. Fletcher threw a bit at the side of his head. When the unicorn looked round, he saw Fletcher idly tapping the side of his shotgun. The smile vanished. A unicorn appeared holding an Equestrian law book in his magic. He held it out to Applejack and motioned for her to place her hoof on it.

'Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?' Applejack nodded and the unicorn stepped away, only to be replaced by the prosecution leader.

'You are Applejack Orchard, farmer from Ponyville?'

'Ah am.' Applejack said.

'And you were the first to talk about your experience, correct?'

'As far as Ah know, yes.'

'Why did you decide to speak out about it?' Applejack looked away.

'Ah'd rather not say. It's not something Ah'm happy discussing.' The other mare nodded in sympathy.

'Of course. Do you feel capable of telling the court what happened on the day you were attacked?' Applejack nodded.

'Ah'd just come home after spending some time with mah aunt and uncle in Manehatten and was looking after mah little sister next to the house. Mah bother and granny were working the far apple trees when this unicorn walked up to me and started asking all these questions.' She stopped, fighting back tears as she relived the moments leading up to her attack.

'You can stop if you want.'

'No. Ah can do this.' Applejack closed her eyes before continuing. 'When Ah mentioned mah family was out working and mah sister was barely walking, he grabbed me with his magic and forced me into one of the stalls in the barn. Then he well, you know, attacked me. When he was done, he left and went away. Ah don't know how long Ah was lying there, all Ah was aware of was the pain.' A tear managed to break free and was soon followed by more. 'Ah'd just gotten mah cutie mark and was barely out of school and he-he attacked me.' She collapsed into sobs. 'Ah'd just gotten mah cutie mark!' Isambard smiled again until another bit hit him. Then it vanished. The prosecution pony tried to comfort Applejack and looked to the judge. He nodded back.

'Court will recess for thirty minutes.' He stood and walked out, throwing another disgusted glance at Isambard. Applejack was led from the court to a small room and was joined by her family and friends. The princesses stood and followed to see her being consoled by everyone.

'Ah-Ah'd just g-g-gotten m-mah cutie mark!' The farmer wailed and buried her head beneath her hooves. Big Mac pulled her into a hug and held her there until she stopped crying.

'Don't worry AJ. He can't hurt anypony anymore. He can't hurt anypony anymore.' She sniffled a few times and hugged back.

'Ah know big brother. It's just painful to think about. Ah was barely older than Applebloom is.' Fletcher turned to Celestia.

'I really wish you'd let me shoot him there and then. Or have some special questioning in the dungeon.' The princess didn't say anything as she looked at the two siblings, though Fletcher thought he saw a small nod. Applejack eventually settled down and dried her eyes in time for the court to resume. She sat back in the witness stand, the prosecution leader standing next to her.

'Are you sure you can go on? We have your sworn statement. That is more than enough to condemn him for what he did.' Applejack shook her head.

'Ah can, and will, do this.' The other mare nodded her head, a smile of respect on her face.

'Good to hear.' Then, loudly enough for everyone else to hear, continued her questioning. 'After the attack, what did you do? Why not go to the police about it?'

'Ah felt weak, and that going to the police would make me look like Ah couldn't look after mahself.'

'What happened after the attack?'

'Ah tried to live mah life as normally as possible but Ah had nightmares for years afterwards and Ah found out something.' She looked down, not wanting to go on. 'Something horrible.'

'What was that?' the mare asked, as gently as she could.

'Ah found Ah was,' She took a deep breath, working up the courage to speak. 'Ah was pregnant with his kid. And it sickened me. Ah didn't want a kid at that age, especially not from that.'

'What did you do with the child?'

'Ah got rid of it. As soon as Ah found out, Ah got rid of it.' Her face hardened with anger. 'Ah didn't feel happy doing it, and Ah still don't, but Ah would not carry a child made from that. It wouldn't be right.'

'Of course. I'm sorry about what happened.' Applejack gave her a weak smile. 'And perhaps you could tell us about when you saw him again?'

'Sure. It was after those cult ponies were beaten and Ah was helping to clean up the castle afterwards when a Royal Guard said Princess Celestia wanted to see us. When we got there she asked me to stand next to Michael, her guard, and look over this pony. When Ah realised who it was, Ah screamed and ran away from him.'

'Could you identify that pony?' She gave Applejack a comforting smile. 'And don't worry, he can't hurt you.' Applejack gave a small laugh.

'Ah know. And if he did try, Michael would stop him before he could even move.' Fletcher grinned and nodded at the Earth pony. Isambard shivered and tried his best not to look at the human, or anyone else for that matter. Applejack pointed at the unicorn. 'That's him. That's the pony who attacked me, your Honour.'

'Are you sure?' he asked.

'Ah'm sure. Ah wouldn't ever forget him after what he did to me.'

'Does the prosecution have any further questions for the witness?'

'No, your Honour. Prosecution rests.' The Earth pony sat down with the rest of her team.

'Does the defence have any questions for the witness?' The Pegasus from before stepped up.

'Yes, your Honour.' He moved to the stand and assumed the same position the prosecution did. 'Miss Orchard, how can you be sure that this is the pony who attacked you? It was over ten years ago and you were a filly at the time.' Applejack eyed him with a dangerous look.

'Ah got a good look at him before he attacked me. And Ah saw his cutie mark in mah nightmares for years afterwards. Ah wouldn't forget something like that.'

'But why would my client attack you in such a way? He is an upstanding member of the Equestrian Royal Court.'

'Ah didn't ask why. Ah was too busy being attacked by your _client._' She spat this last word out. The Pegasus cocked an eyebrow slightly.

'Perhaps you goaded him, or misled him, into it and my client may have thought your cries for help were merely part of a fantasy.'

'Objection!' The mare from prosecution yelled.

'Overruled.' The judge declared. 'Defence, please continue.'

'Miss Orchard, did you goad my client into attacking you?'

'No. Ah didn't. Ah was about to ask him to leave when he forced me into the barn.' She ground her teeth. 'And Ah will never have fantasies like that ever, and not at that age.' Fletcher shifted his attention from Isambard to the Pegasus. The slime ball was actually saying the Applejack had led him on? Fletcher felt his hand reach for the pistol on his leg but checked the motion.

'No further questions your Honour.' The Pegasus sat back down again, hiding a small look of resignation. He knew this case had gone downhill and fast.

'The witness may step down.' Applejack nodded at the judge and returned to her seat on the witness bench, shaking slightly. Another mare was called and they went through all the motions again. Her story was similar to Applejack's and was asked nearly the same questions. She stepped down and a third, then a forth witness took her place. By the fifth it was getting late and the judge called the session to an end.

'Court will reconvene at eight o'clock tomorrow.' He left the court and Fletcher escorted the princesses back to their original room. Both seemed happy with how the trial was going as they met with Twilight and the others. Applejack was kept with the rest of witnesses, some law saying she wasn't allowed to speak with anyone not directly involved with the case. The group went into one of the many halls within the castle and discussed the day's events. Fletcher said little; imagining himself beating Isambard to a bloody pulp with Slime Ball Lawyer's leg, but answered any questions he was asked. Eventually the talk centred on Twilight and Big Mac's engagement. Though he hadn't been there when she had announced it, Fletcher had congratulated Twilight as soon as he saw her again. The girls each promised to do their best for the upcoming engagement party and would make it as memorable as possible for the happy couple. Fletcher tuned out at this point and ran another check on his armour. Though it had been hurled by an exploding atomic bomb down a massive and bumpy slope, it was undamaged and working perfectly. Again, he came to the conclusion it had a repair function. Next he fired up the radio and hailed the Royal Guard Communication Centre, a recent addition whose sole function was to allow the princess to talk to him in the field and remove the slow and vulnerable mail service.

'_Yes, Sir Fletcher?' _the voice on the other end of the link asked.

'Just running a systems check.'

'_Of course. I believe everything is running correctly. How are things with the princesses and the Elements?'_

'Everything's fine up here, thank you. How are you?'

'_Good, thank you for asking.'_

'Always a pleasure. See ya.' The guard said goodbye and killed the link. Fletcher nodded in satisfaction to himself. Everything was running correctly here and in the communication centre. Around him, the girls were beginning to yawn as the night wore on. Celestia sent for attendants to escort them to their rooms. When the princesses and Fletcher were finally alone, Celestia let out a small sigh.

'After hearing of the crimes committed by Isambard today I wouldn't be surprised if he received life imprisonment with no chance of release.' Luna sat next to her sister, nodding in agreement.

'Doesn't Equestria have a death sentence for those kinds of crimes?' Fletcher asked, leaning against a wall.

'No. But we do have prisons fit for those who deserve them.'

'Almost as good.'

'Maybe.' Celestia looked out the window to the night sky. 'Tell me Michael, does your planet have creatures as vile as Isambard?' Fletcher nodded grimly.

'And worse. He only raped fifteen different mares. We have guys who'd consider that a warm up compared to what they've done.' He shivered. 'I heard of this one guy that locked his own daughter up in a basement for twenty years who he raped and fathered eight kids with. Then we have the murderers. My planet is FUBAR compared to this place.'

'Is everypony like that there?' Luna asked.

'Thankfully, no. Whilst we do have some people that hurt others for fun, most of us are alright. We care for each other in our own ways.'

'Perhaps we will be able to visit in the future.' Fletcher looked away at the idea.

'Yeah. Maybe.' The mention of going home reminded him he was stuck here for the rest of his life. Luna brought up a hoof to her mouth when she realised what she had said.

'Michael, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-' Fletcher waved her off.

'Don't worry about it. I'm getting used to the idea and I'm finally doing something with my life.'

'Still, I feel terrible for what I said.'

'Again, don't worry.' Fletcher yawned and stretched. The princesses rose and he escorted them to their rooms before heading to his and collapsing onto his bed. Tomorrow would be a long and boring day of throwing bits at Isambard and waiting for him to be declared guilty and sent to whatever hell hole Equestria had.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Two

The second day of the trial was pretty much the same as the first. Five more mares gave their statements and told the court how Isambard had come up to them, talked to them then attacked them. With each mare that went up, Isambard would give that same small smile until Fletcher threw a bit at his head. Then it would be gone for a short while before returning. At which point another bit would fly and find its target. The Pegasus in charge of the defence sank a little lower in his chair with each witness or damning piece of evidence. He had lost with Applejack's testament. Each new one was merely adding an extra foot of depth to his grave. If he hadn't asked the farmer pony if she'd goaded Isambard into attacking her, Fletcher might have felt some sympathy for him.

The third day of the trial was shorter with only two mares giving evidence. Then it went onto the statements made by the ponies that had committed suicide because of the attacks. Midday came as the last piece of evidence was delivered and the prosecution was finished.

'Will the jury now please pass judgement on the case of Isambard Hoofton?' the judge asked, staring at the six jurors. They stood and were escorted out and into a small room. They emerged two minutes later. An Earth pony stallion stood as the others sat.

'Has the jury reached a verdict?' The judge cast a look of hatred and contempt towards Isambard.

'Yes, your Honour. We, the jury, find the defendant Isambard Hoofton guilty of fifteen counts of rape, twelve counts of bodily harm and three counts of murder by proxy and request the maximum sentence available be given.' The stallion sat down. The judge nodded in agreement.

'By the powers vested in me by the Equestrian Legal System, I hereby sentence the defendant Isambard Hoofton to life without release in Dante Prison for his crimes.' He brought his gavel down twice. 'Court is dismissed.' Immediately two Royal Guards stood either side of Isambard, who wore a look of shock and horror, and pulled him to his hooves. They led him out of the court through the double doors at the back. As soon as he was gone the spectators and witnesses rose and began to file out. Applejack ran over to her family and friends, hugging them tightly. Fletcher led the princesses over.

'Ah don't know what to say. He-he's really going to jail?' Applejack asked as the two sisters approached.

'Yes, Applejack. He will remain there for the remainder of his natural life and when he passes, not one tear shall be shed in sadness.' Celestia told them. Applejack smiled weakly and hugged the princess. Outside the room came shouts of surprise and panic. Fletcher instinctively reached for his shotgun and positioned himself between the princesses and the possible threat. The door burst open and a pony was ejected back into the room. Fletcher raised the shotgun and aimed it at the doorway. More screams and shouts came from the now open doorway.

'Michael, they may need you to help.' Celestia nudged him slightly.

'Yes ma'am.' He ran through the portal and into the corridor outside. To his right was a mass of ponies, cowering away from something. To his left three Royal Guards were surrounding a recently freed Isambard Hoofton. His manacles and anti-magic ring were lying shattered on the floor. He held several rocks in his magic and threw two at the guards. They hit and knocked the ponies flat. He was panting as he picked up more.

'I-I can't go to Dante. They'd kill me there! I am not going there.' Fletcher kept the shotgun aimed at the pony.

'And you think something like this will make it likely they'll send you to a nicer prison?' He glanced round at the destruction. Two benches had been smashed and there were several craters in the floor. 'This is just proving why they should send you. Now put the rocks down and you won't get hurt.' Isambard snorted.

'You? Hurt me? Ha.' The rocks twitched slightly, but Fletcher could see the fear in his eyes.

'I guess you can throw those things pretty hard and pretty fast. But this thing,' He motioned to the shotgun. 'This thing can rip you to a bloody paste in the blink of an eye. And I saw how you reacted when you saw me.' Isambard flinched slightly and the rocks drooped a little.

'N-no. I'm not afraid of you.' The rocks resumed their original height. 'And I had a magic dampening ring on. Now I don't and I am not going to jail.' He threw the first rock and knocked the shotgun from Fletcher's hand.

'Big mistake asshole.' He dodged a second rock and drew his pistol. 'You weren't exactly in my good books before and now you just pissed me off even more.' He raised the pistol and took careful aim, firing once and dropping the unicorn. The human clipped his pistol back into place and retrieved his shotgun before checking over the downed pony. He was still breathing but in ragged, pain filled shudders. A few stray sparks of magic erupted from the broken horn, Fletcher's single shot had severed it from the body. A single Royal Guard, the only one not to get hit, joined him.

'I'm sorry, Sir Fletcher. As soon as we took him out of the room he smashed his head against the door and broke the ring. Then he flung off his shackles and attacked us. If it hadn't been for you, he might have escaped.' He hung his head in shame.

'Don't worry, happens to all of us. I'm just glad I managed to finally shoot the bastard.' Behind them came the sound of approaching hooves and more guards joined them. Fletcher gave the unicorn on the ground a small kick. 'Just to make sure he isn't faking.' Then another, harder kick. 'To really make sure.' Isambard merely curled up in pain as his horn stopped glowing and finally went out. 'Take him away.' The guards nodded and dragged the pony away. Fletcher stood and checked his shotgun for damage. Like his rifle following the explosion at Coltsdale it had suffered only a few scratches and seemed to be in working order. He'd have to test it later on.

'Michael, what happened?' The human turned to see Celestia and Luna approach. He shrugged.

'The usual. Some dumb fuck thinks he can take me on and loses. Plus I finally got to shoot him.' He picked up the remnants of the horn. 'And a souvenir.'

'You shot his horn off?'

'Yep. It was either that or between the eyes.' Fletcher examined the horn. 'But I want him to suffer, and a bullet is nothing.' He dropped the item and took up position near the princesses. They glanced at the discarded horn. It had lost some of its colour as the magic bled out.

'I suppose. But to a unicorn, losing their horn is almost the same as a death toll. And he has been sentenced to Dante Prison. Life wouldn't have been easy for him _with _his horn. Now though...' Celestia trailed off.

'Would you prefer it if he had a fighting chance?' Fletcher asked. The princess shook her head. 'Me neither. Now shall we get back to the others? I'm pretty sure Applejack wants to celebrate the fact her attacker is going away for a very long time.' The two Alicorns nodded and Fletcher led them through the crowd of ponies and back to Twilight and the others.

Fletcher trudged through the undergrowth of the forests as he tried to keep up with Twilight and the others. It had been a few weeks since Isambard's trial and hardly anything had happened. Then Twilight had asked for him to accompany her and the others whilst they explored some caves just south of Canterlot. Celestia had allowed it and so here he was, fighting through tree branches and shrubs as he followed the girls.

'Why am I here again?' he asked.

'Because your job as a Knight is to protect us. And considering we haven't really seen you for the past few months, we all decided it was time you fulfilled your obligation to us.' Twilight answered.

'Oh. Just checking.' He dodged another branch and entered a clearing with a small cave entrance off to one side.

'We're here.' Twilight announced.

'So why are we exploring a bunch of caves Twilight?' Rainbow Dash asked.

'Because these caves were once used by ancient Equestrian ponies before the reign of Princess Celestia and Luna as a place for their soothsayers to perform their work.' She took a step towards the opening. 'And they were discovered a few years ago but nopony ever visits. It's something I've always wanted to explore.' The girls just looked at each other. This was another expedition for Twilight to confirm what she'd read in a book. Fletcher nodded as well but let his eyes wander across the scenery. The forest didn't offer much up but the ground near the cave entrance had been disturbed recently by a number of hooves. And here and there were scraps of clothing.

'Twilight, you did say that hardly anyone comes here, right?'

'Yes. Why?' Fletcher shrugged.

'Just wondering.' He checked both his pistol and rifle were in place as the girls entered the caves. An uneasy feeling had settled into the back of his head and refused to move or tell him why. He shook his head and set foot into the caves. It was dark, the occasional light streaming down from holes in the roof and an illumination spell from both Twilight and Rarity lighting most of the caverns. Fletcher activated his VISR function and the caverns were bathed in the familiar yellow lines and pale light. His hand never strayed that far from his pistol and occasionally touched the butt, his sense of unease growing.

'Hey Twi? What are these drawings on the wall?' Ahead Applejack was scrutinising a crude picture on the wall. Twilight trotted over and studied the picture.

'It's what the soothsayers would draw after a vision. They believed they could see into the future and made these as reminders.'

'How many came true?' Rarity had joined them and cast her eye over the picture. 'How awful. No attempt at all to match the colours and it looks like a child drew it.' She huffed in indignation.

'They didn't exactly prioritise artistic flair, Rarity. They drew them to remind themselves of their prophecies. And none of them came true.' She tapped a hoof to her chin, thinking. 'They said that Equestria would be consumed by a great fire that would wipe away all those the flames considered unfit for life. Or that we would eventually be dragged into a war which would ravage the land for centuries to come. And neither event happened.'

'Well duh.' Pinkie said. 'So, Twilight. What does this one mean?' She pointed at one depicting a trio of ponies stood round a fire with a blue-green aura surrounding them.

'I'm no entirely sure about that one. It's been found all throughout these caves. The others,' She waved a hoof round the cave. 'Seem fairly straight forward and we can deduce what they mean but that one has eluded many ponies for years.' Fletcher gave it a brief glance as he passed by. He'd found more evidence that people had inhabited these caves recently, namely discarded food items and wrappers, and his unease had grown with each one. Some of the other items had included burnt parchment or thick robes.

'So, we came in here to look at drawings most ponies don't know about or can't figure out?' Rainbow Dash sighed in irritation. 'I wish I'd joined Fluttershy helping those sick animals.'

'We came here because this is part of Equestrian history. These ponies lived before even Discord came to power. We have found similar sites all over with similar drawings and artefacts. But we aren't any closer to understanding their society at all.' Twilight had switched to her lecturer mode as she began explaining the various aspects of ancient Equestrian society they had learned. Or thought they'd learnt. Fletcher tuned them out, listening more to the tone than the actual conversation, as he patrolled the outer edges of the cave. It was just as dark as before with stalagmites and stalactites dripping water everywhere. To his right the girls were still talking. To his left was darkness and silence. His hand brushed against the butt of the pistol as he stared into the abyss. He moved on, leaning against the cave wall and activating his camouflage system. Something was definitely wrong.

'Uh, Twilight?' Applejack started. Her friend had been talking nonstop for the past ten minutes and had led them deeper into the cave system. 'Ya'll realise we lost Michael, right?' Twilight stopped talking and span round, searching for the human that had accompanied them. She began to panic when she failed to see him.

'Michael? Michael! Where are you?' The others started to call his name out and look for him but stopped when somepony began laughing.

'Well, well, well. The Elements of Harmony without their guardian demon. How unfortunate. For you.' A Pegasus stepped forward, blades affixed to his wings. To his left and right came more. Twilight and the others tried to back away but hit a wall. 'Oh, a dead end. How sad.' His wings flared out, the blades glinting in the low light.

'Who are you ponies?' Twilight asked, sounding braver than she was.

'We are the remains of the Canterlot Mind of the Grave segment. And we still have our orders to kill you on sight.' He stepped forward, as did his two friends. 'And we will do it unopposed.' He yelled and lunged for Twilight. She ducked and kicked the Pegasus in midair. He landed with a thud but was back up within seconds. The two others made similar lunges at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The farmer pony unleashed a powerful, bone-snapping kick and launched her opponent into the wall. Rainbow Dash wasn't so lucky and one of the blades gouged a deep cut into her flank. She cried out in pain and dropped. The two remaining cultists stood and prepared another attack. From behind a brief flash appeared and the second Pegasus dropped. The first one whirled round to see nothing.

'You.' He spat. A low laugh answered him back.

'Yep, the Demon is back and kicking cultist ass. Now if you would be so kind as to surrender to me we can have a nice chat back in the castle.' Twilight felt relief wash over her. Michael was here.

'Not likely. You killed far too many of my brothers and sisters working for the whores for me to consider anything you offer.' He continued to try and locate the human but to no avail.

'Have it your way.' The same flash appeared and the pony dropped, dead. 'Are you all okay?' Fletcher walked forward, activating the light on his armour. A quick check revealed that only Rainbow Dash had any wounds, though Twilight's legs felt a little weak after bucking that pony.

'Twilight, do you think you could teleport her to the hospital?' Fletcher asked, applying a bandage to the wound. Blood was flowing freely, and at an alarming rate. The unicorn nodded. 'Then get going. I'll get everyone else home.'

'Alright. Here goes.' Twilight focused and vanished in a flash of light, leaving Fletcher with Applejack, Pinkie and Rarity.

'Let's get out of here.' The girls nodded and left as quickly as they could, immediately heading to the hospital section of the castle.

Celestia paced backwards and forward, frowning. She had been told by an attendant that one of the Elements had been wounded by a Mind of the Grave cultist in the caves south of here. Thankfully, Fletcher had managed to prevent anything worse and the doctors had assured her that the cyan Pegasus would fully recover. The doors opened and Fletcher walked in, bowing as he neared the princess.

'Did you find anything of interest in the caves pertaining to the cult?' He nodded and produced a single scroll.

'It was dated less than a month ago and addressed to presumably one of the three killed in the caves.' He held it out and Celestia took it from him. 'It has details of something that's set to happen in the near future. No dates, just that they should wait for the signal. Whatever that might be.'

'And do we know where it was sent from?' Fletcher shook his head.

'No. But I think there might be other cells of the cult still out there. And they still have a score to settle with us.' He glanced at the few ponies in the room. 'They may even try another attempt on your life. We have no idea what their capabilities are or how many of them there are.' Celestia sighed.

'I know. But I take comfort in the fact that you have managed to protect us from them before without too much difficulty. And this time we can be more prepared. All of the guards have been trained for such an eventuality and we still have the Dyson Cube if things do go badly again.' Fletcher idly felt the compartment.

'True, but I would still need to get to the Elements and they might be stuck in Ponyville and me here or on a mission.'

'So we will have to move to eliminate the threat of the Mind of the Grave before it can do any more damage.'

'Yes ma'am.' Celestia levitated a few scrolls over and began writing on them.

'I shall be sending out agents to locate any leads on the cult and will need you to be on extended readiness in case they find anything. I want you to be ready to take them out on a moment's notice.'

'Yes ma'am.'


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Three

In the weeks and months to follow, agents acting on behalf of the princesses combed Equestria in search of anything even closely resembling the Mind of the Grave. All the while Fletcher remained in Canterlot, waiting for that one letter saying they had found the cult. He would perform make do tasks, cleaning his weapons or exercising, anything to make sure he was prepared and his equipment was too. Nothing was left to chance. His rucksack was filled with the ammunition box for his SMG and pistol, along with the MRE box. Celestia had wanted him to travel light for this mission so he had packed the bare essentials.

By the end of the second month, Fletcher felt himself begin to grow bored. He'd been on extended readiness for what seemed like forever, the monotony broken up when Twilight and the others made a trip to Canterlot, though their visits were merely to gather the materials necessary for the upcoming engagement party and wedding. They would stop for at most half an hour before departing back home again. They all seemed to have gotten over the attacks in the caves, even Rainbow Dash. The wound had fully healed and hadn't left a scar, something Fletcher put down to the expertise of Eagle Eye. The doctor had adapted well to life in Canterlot after leaving Las Pegasus, his more carefree attitude a welcome change to the aloof and refined ones Fletcher usual associated with Canterlot ponies.

'_Sir Fletcher? The princesses wish to see you in the throne room.' _The radio came to life just as the human was reassembling his pistol in his room. He acknowledged and clipped the newly rebuilt gun into a holster on the left side of his hip, the SMG taking up the one on the thigh. Both Celestia and Luna were sat in the throne room along with a familiar looking Pegasus. Fletcher bowed as he drew close.

'Princesses, General Blitzkrieg. You rang?'

'Yes. We believe we have found the base of operations for the Mind of the Grave in the north.' Luna gestured to a map on the wall. It showed all of the towns and cities of Equestria with Canterlot and Ponyville highlighted with stars. She pointed to the northern section of the map. 'The further north our agents went, the more ponies were talking about the Mind and gave unfavourable opinions on myself and Celestia.' Fletcher nodded.

'Do we have a more accurate location?'

'Yes, the Haygobah swamps. Many towns surround it and each speaks of frequently seeing members of the cult.' Celestia picked up a few reports and handed them to Fletcher. Each was a detailed account of every agent's investigation. Many spoke of the worsening reputation the princesses received as they drew closer.

'So I guess I'm being sent to Haygobah, right?'

'Yes, but by foot.' Blitzkrieg told him. 'We cannot afford to let the cult know you have arrived. A chariot bearing the Royal Crests arriving in the area would scare them off.' He indicated a small town a few hundred kilometres south of Haygobah. 'This is as far as we can safely take you. From there you will need to head north and into the swamps themselves.'

'Okay. What kind of terrain will I be facing?'

'Boggy soil, large rivers and low land. We think that the tree cover is thick so there will be plenty of shadows to hide in as you make your approach.'

'Great. Just where exactly is the cult supposed to be hiding?' Fletcher scrutinised the map. The Haygobah swamps were massive. At least fifty kilometres across and sixty wide. 'That's somewhere in the region of three thousand square kilometres surface area. And that isn't taking into account caves.'

'Unfortunately our agents were unable to determine the exact location but did manage to help narrow it down.' Celestia levitated several pieces of paper to cover about half the map. 'These areas are too boggy or filled with dangerous fauna and flora to support life.' She covered more of the map up until a third remained. 'This area is the only area where none of the local inhabitants step hoof in and is capable of maintaining life. I'd recommend you start there in your search.'

'That's still over a thousand kilometres of land. It might take a while.' He studied the map and compared it to those on his armour and began looking for the most likely place would be and marked the locations. 'How long before I'm sent?'

'Immediately. We cannot waste time. A chariot will be ready shortly to take you as far as possible before it has to turn back.' Fletcher nodded and began to leave.

'If you need me, get in contact over the radio.' The princesses and Blitzkrieg nodded and returned to the map. The scale of the task ahead was daunting and would leave both the princesses and the Elements without protection for months.

The chariot deposited Fletcher on the outskirts of a ramshackle town with barely any signs of life, though a mournful piano tune drifted from one of the buildings. A bar perhaps. Somewhere a single door fluttered in a light breeze, gently banging into it's frame. The human stepped off and the two Pegasi returned to Canterlot. The rustle of trees and leaves swaying filled the air as Fletcher drew his SMG and started walking north. It was dark and a low cloud cover made it all the spookier. Either side of the road the land fell away to low lying marshes or barren fields. Life, it seemed, was not easy for the people living here and only the desolate or foolhardy came here. He shivered. The sooner he got this mission over and done with, the better.

Unfortunately for Fletcher, the planet seemed to have other ideas about this being a quick mission. For starters, the road twisted and turned across the land, adding perhaps an extra fifty kilometres to his journey. Then there was the weather. Rain, with more to follow, seemed to be the only kind in this part of Equestria. It was only because of the slight increase in light and the clock on his armour that Fletcher was able to tell when it was dawn or not. And the rain caused mud and the mud caused him to stop to almost a crawl.

'Fucking weather.' He trudged through the mud, his feet leaving deep impressions. If this were a stealth mission, he would be relatively easy to follow. Every few days he would enter one of the towns littered along his route. At each he would perform a visual recon and report his findings back to Canterlot. So far, it had been the same. A few ponies here and there making unfavourable comments as he spied on them. But as he drew closer to Haygobah the amount of ponies speaking against the princesses increased. And he started to see the odd poster depicting the Gravemind or it's cult as he continued. These findings were also radioed back.

'_Michael, if you do encounter some Mind of the Grave cultists, I want you to follow them and see if they can lead you to their base. Acknowledged?' _Blitzkrieg had handled all of the communications detailing the mission, leaving the princesses to deal with the matters arising in Canterlot.

'Copy Blitzkrieg. Follow any and all cultists to their base of operations. Fletcher out.' He killed the link and pushed on. He'd been walking for nearly two weeks and a combination of weather, terrain and caution had meant he was only able to cover half of what he would have normally been able to. But he'd had some luck. Several ponies had been discussing a recent missionary from the cult in the last town, and that he had been here the previous week. Fletcher grinned slightly. He was catching up to his first real lead since beginning this mission. Finally, a break.

It didn't last long. The weather turned foul and water flooded onto the road and washed it out. Fletcher had two options. One, stop and wait for the weather to clear or at least return to what it was before, but potentially lose his only lead. Or two, carry on and risk being washed away in a flash flood. He'd barely survived two before deciding to go with the first option, hoping the weather would settle eventually. Three weeks later, he set foot onto a badly mangled road covered in surface water. Overhead the clouds had released their excess rain and resumed their normal downpour. Fletcher radioed about his misfortune to the Pegasus back in Canterlot and was told to keep going.

'Easier said than done.' He'd replied. The roads had been bad before. Now it was like walking through an actual swamp. Mud came halfway up his shins and each step was a monumental effort. 'I. Hate. My. Job.' Fletcher punctuated each word with another gruelling step. Eventually, after several more days of fighting through mud and slime, the road quality dramatically improved as did his progress. Now all he had to do was make up for lost time and catch up to the cult missionary. In the mud. During a rainy season.

'Shit.'

The road twisted and turned with the land, avoiding swamps and bogs, and continued to bring Fletcher that bit closer to his target with each passing step. His SMG and pistol were still clipped into place, splattered with mud and wet but otherwise alright.

'Just keep going and it will all be over soon.' He reassured himself. Thoughts of a warm bed, food and drinks momentarily filled his mind as he walked on through the swamplands. The distances between towns had shortened until it was almost one every day. And this meant more ponies on the road and more ponies he had to avoid. Now travel was limited to night only or in cases where visibility was below poor. By now he'd been walking for nearly two and a half months and was probably three quarters of the way there. Then he had to find the damn place and take it out.

'Aren't I lucky?' In the next town, he struck gold. A caravan being led by several robed figures had stopped and was busy arguing with each other.

'I don't care what the High Elder says; we need to get back now! The longer we're out here, the more likely it will be before one of the whore's buck buddies sees us.' There were five of them, though it seemed two had been purposefully excluded from the conversation. The middle of the three wore a robe with two silver lines stitched near the hem. A chapter sub-leader, if Fletcher remembered the observations made by the Ponies Front of Canterlot correctly. He made a frustrated gesture at the caravan. The one to his left, a security pony according to his single blue stripe, nodded.

'You realise he has a point. Not three months ago a bunch of unexplained stallions appeared asking all sorts of questions about the swamps. And if they were their buck buddies, you can bet the Demon won't be that far behind.' The mention of Fletcher's nickname sent shivers running through all five cult members.

'Yes, I realise that.' The last of the three wore a robe with both a silver and blue stripe. Fletcher had no clue what that signified. Maybe he was both a sub-leader _and_ a guard. 'And I also realise that the High Elder has absolute power over what we do. And if he says we take the long route to avoid all the Swampicores, we take the long route.' He pointed at the caravan. 'What we have in there is too valuable to lose to a wild animal attack. And might I remind you that he will know if we take a short cut and what he will do if we go against his wishes.' The two others dipped their heads.

'I know but-' The sub-leader started to object but was cut off by the silver-blue pony.

'But nothing. We are going to take the route set out for us by his wisdom and you are going to like it.' He glared at the two. 'Am I making myself clear?'

'Yes sir.' They both answered and raised their heads.

'Good.' Silver-blue pointed at the caravan and directed the two ponies not included in the conversation to hitch themselves up. 'We're leaving right now. If we can't take the short cut, we'll just have to make up the time elsewhere.' Fletcher waited until they were almost out of sight before going after them. These ponies would lead him straight to the cult's hideout and lessen his time spent in this wretched hell hole.

It would be a further four weeks until they reached the outer layer of the true swamps and then the roads pretty much vanished, only to be replaced by well worn trails that were barely noticeable. Fletcher radioed his position and progress before he entered the swamp proper and radio reception fell away to barely anything. Oddly enough, the trees in the swamp bore an uncanny resemblance to the trees surrounding the Flood containment facility on Alpha Halo. The prospect of fighting Flood forms daunted Fletcher. He didn't have energy shields and the suit wasn't strong enough for that kind of hand to hand combat. Then he shook himself out of that mindset. The Flood had been killed by the Elements of Harmony long ago. All he had to worry about was being discovered by the five ponies he was following. And considering they hadn't spotted him in the past few weeks, it was unlikely they would.

The trail grew fainter and fainter until Fletcher wasn't sure of what they were following. But occasionally he would spot a strip of cloth wrapped around the branch of a tree, meaning this was a path and that it lead somewhere. He kept a tally of where each marker was in case he had to escape this way. So far, the group had been pretty quiet along the road but as they drew closer to home they began to talk more with each other. Just trivial things like seeing family again, or sleeping in a proper bed. Fletcher sighed as he followed close behind. The trail eventually became more prominent and the markers disappeared as they reached something resembling a small island in the swamp. Ponies in robes patrolled the edge and shouted at the sight of the caravan and it's guards. More arrived and helped pull the cart and it's contents onto drier land before wheeling it away somewhere deeper into the territory. Fletcher waited until the number of ponies dropped off and made his way closer. There was something of great importance in that cart, and he needed to know what. He tried the radio again but got static. The trees had to be wreaking havoc with his reception.

'What we've got here is a failure to communicate.' He muttered to himself before shrugging and studied the movement of the guards. They seemed to be haphazard and lacking cohesion. Most seemed happy to huddle in groups around the few lit torches, discussing how they would take down the whorish sisters and rule this land. Fletcher sighed as he slipped in through a gap in their patrols and made his way down the same path the wagon had followed. He had to know what was in it and why it was so valuable for the cult. Then after determining that he would begin to lay waste to the cult and return home.

It was slow progress. Every few metres a cultist would appear from seemingly nowhere and then disappear just as quickly. He kept one eye on his motion tracker throughout the trip into the centre of the camp, pushing it to the very limit of its range, just under fifty metres, at the cost of accuracy. If the target was going slow enough they wouldn't be picked up. Life was full of compromises. An hour later, Fletcher reached the edge of what seemed to be the main area. Dozens of robed cultists moved with unknown purposes, some carrying scrolls, some not. It wasn't until Fletcher looked round did he take in the scale of the space. Most of the trees had been converted to support small houses built partially into them with thin steps leading up to the front doors. Each tree had about seven or eight houses and there were nearly twenty trees spread around the clearing. This wasn't a small outpost. It was more like a full blown town. Fletcher scanned the area for the caravan, hoping it hadn't been hidden away already. It had, but two of the ponies that had brought it in emerged from a ground level house that was far larger than any other. His new target. Making sure his SMG was ready and his camouflage system was working correctly, the human moved towards the building as quietly as he could.

'Do we really need as many as this?' Fletcher had pried open a window and was watching two ponies discuss the contents of the wagon, one of several spread throughout the room. 'One was enough but nine? That seems like a bit of an unnecessary risk to us.' The one on the left, a unicorn, shook his head as he spoke. His partner, either a Pegasus or an Earth pony, dropped the canvas cover and walked over to the doors.

'We need that many because we will be hitting all of the targets at the same time. And the bigger the disaster, the more guards they'll have to deploy to deal with it and the less that can stop us.'

'I suppose. But still, nine?' He shivered. 'I hate the whores just as much as the next pony but even I'm a little uncomfortable with all of them going off like that.' They left the room and Fletcher used this opportunity to break in properly. He swept the area with his SMG as he landed. No one was in there with him. Fletcher clipped the gun into place and moved to the first cart. One corner was untied and he tentatively lifted the material up. He stopped when he saw what was inside. It was another atomic bomb, just like the one he had detonated in Coltsdale. And there were nine of them.

'Fuck.'


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Four

Fletcher dropped the canvas and backed away from the cart. Inside was a potentially live atomic bomb, one of nine spread throughout the room. This was bad on an unbelievable scale. Nine atomic bombs of immense power if the Coltsdale one was to be used as a bench mark. It had been at least half a kilometre underground and it had blown through the rock overhead and produced a massive crater and mushroom cloud. He had no idea what the yield had been, but guessed it would have been somewhere north of twenty kilotons minimum. He shivered and made his way to one of the benches set into the wall. Blueprints too complicated to follow, transistors and wires littered the surfaces. And three timer detonation devices. Fletcher picked over them. Unlike the one in Coltsdale, each of the reels were labelled. The first was days, then hours and the final two were minutes. He grinned a little. Provided he could hide the active timer he could wipe this place out in relative safety. He shifted through the notes and his face fell. These bombs were all duds. They lacked the urneighium needed to trigger the firestorm of radiation. This was both good and bad. Good because the bombs couldn't detonate. Bad because somewhere out there someone was supplying the Mind of the Grave with fissionable materials. And he needed to take them out as well.

'Shit, fuck and damn.' Fletcher crunched the paper he was holding up and threw it away. Another piece of paper revealed the urneighium wouldn't be delivered for at least twenty weeks from today. The human growled and kicked the wooden bench. Why couldn't he get at least one decent break whilst he was working for the princesses? He sighed and left through the same window he had broken through. Now he had to find somewhere he could hide in to wait for the delivery of urneighium, then for the bombs to be armed, then prime them and get away without getting hit by another atomic explosion. Simple. In theory.

Fletcher settled on a small hollow of trees about half a mile from the town of tree houses and made the place as comfortable as he could make it. Though given he was working with rocks, wood and mud, it would be a miracle to get anything resembling soft and secure. By day he would stay in the relative safety of his hideout and by night he would enter the town to perform intelligence gathering. From what he was able to determine, most of the cult here were high ranking individuals and their families. That explained why all of the bombs were being assembled here. They didn't trust the other sects of the cult to build and store them, putting their trust in the distance and terrain of the surrounding swamp to hide them from the princesses. And it had worked. Until today. Now Fletcher had a chance to wipe the leadership out entirely and all of their bombs in one go. He just had to wait.

The twenty weeks passed too slowly for Fletcher. He counted an additional two bombs in the workshop by the time the urneighium arrived. There were five carts full of the material and as soon as they were inside a team of scientist ponies began assembling the bombs. It was a delicate operation and took over an hour for each weapon to be readied. They worked slowly, and methodically. The unicorns would lift the core of the bomb into place then step back and let the Pegasi and Earth ponies handle the more delicate business of attaching the wires into place. Fletcher idly noted the bombs were gun-type systems, like Little Boy, but had the size and shape of Trinity. Why did the bombs have that much empty space inside? Or was it just added material to boost the yield? Fletcher shook his head and continued to watch. The ponies finished on one bomb and began on the next. One down, ten more to go.

The whole process took nearly twelve hours to fully complete and eventually the scientists left. Fletcher popped the window open again and crept inside. Now he shivered. Each and every bomb was now live and ready to be used on unsuspecting targets.

'No. Not on my watch.' Fletcher muttered as he looked for one of the timer detonators. He found a single one and set about arming the bomb the furthest from the doors, giving himself twelve hours to escape the blast zone. He could have given himself more time but he had no idea when these bombs were going to be shipped out to their targets and armed. And he'd wasted over twenty weeks here without any contact at all with Canterlot. He bolted the interface into position and started the timer. When it began clicking he ran out and into the swamp area, following the maps he'd made and a little bit of memory. Aside from needing to get out of the forest and the blast radius of eleven atomic bombs, Fletcher had uncovered unsettling information regarding the cult and who had supplied them with the materials necessary.

He managed to get back onto the main path back with over ten hours to spare. Once again he was forced to stop and wait for cultists to disappear as they appeared without warning. As soon as he hit the road, he sprinted away as fast as he could.

The timer on his armour was counting down to zero and had entered the final few minutes. A quick check of his map showed that he was a little over fifteen miles away. Would it be far enough? The timer hit thirty seconds and alarms began to blare. He was about to find out.

Just as the timer hit three seconds the bomb detonated in a ball of bright light that cast harsh shadows on the few things not burnt to ash from the intense heat of the fireball. Then the shockwave flew outwards and swept away the remaining scenery. Clouds either flash vaporised or if they were far enough away were swept up in the shockwave, allowing sunlight to fill the land for probably the first time in months. The winds reached across hundreds of miles, shattering windows and removing roofs in many cases. Then the vacuum left by the fireball took over and debris was sucked backwards and into the towering mushroom cloud as it rose higher and higher. Most never made it, falling back down to the ground in steaming marshes and swamps. The vacuum eventually subsided and an eerie calm began to settle over the land.

Fletcher coughed and rolled onto his back, wincing at the pain. Above and miles behind him was the mushroom cloud, the second he had ever seen and far larger and more terrifying than before. It made him realise how insignificant he was. True, he could kill dozens within a few minutes but _that _could kill hundreds of thousands in seconds and render a place uninhabitable for years to come. Sluggishly he rose and automatically felt his hands reach for his guns. Relief flooded him as he found they were still there. Fletcher stared at the awe inspiring sight of the cloud before turning and heading back to Canterlot, wincing as he did. Nothing felt broken, just bruised, strained and aching all over.

'Ow.' He limped a little, favouring his left leg over his right. Each step through the mud was hellish and an unusual punishment for his battered body. He'd tried the radio but had received static in response. He was broadcasting and he was getting a confirmation signal from the automated systems at Canterlot but no one seemed to be answering. An uneasy feeling began to tickle the back of his mind as he walked onwards. Canterlot couldn't have fallen. The system would have been sending the emergency signal if anything bad had happened. Fletcher banished these thoughts to the back of his mind. He would try again every hour, on the hour, until he got a reply from home.

Success. He'd managed to finally get in touch with Canterlot after six tries, the guard offering his apologies and saying that an event requiring all of the guards had arisen and it meant that the communication room had been abandoned temporarily. Fletcher had brushed the incident off and requested General Blitzkrieg to be placed on the radio. The guard complied and the dull tones of the soldier Pegasus filled Fletcher's ears.

'_Michael? Are you okay? We haven't heard from you in nearly eight months.'_

'I'm fine, just bruised. I managed to take down the cult in the swamp.' The general let out a laugh.

'_Knew you could do it.'_

'Yeah, but I think I might have some bad news for you.' Fletcher could hear the mood in the communication room change for the worse.

'_Which is?'_

'I know where the cult members got the designs for the bombs from, and the materials to make them. And why.' Blitzkrieg was silent for a few seconds.

'_And they are?'_

The griffins. They're gearing up for round two and soon.' The Pegasus let out a curse he had picked up from Fletcher.

'_You're sure about that?'_

'Yes sir. I even found parchments with the Griffin Kingdom seal on. If they are preparing for war, we might need to be ready to meet it.' Blitzkrieg sighed.

'_I know. Tell us where you are and we'll send a chariot to pick you up. If they want war, we'll give 'em war.'_

'My thoughts exactly.' Fletcher gave the general his position and sat down to wait for his ride back to the castle. It was only then that he noticed the date. It had been three days since his birthday. He'd been so occupied with staying out of sight and gathering intelligence that he hadn't even noticed. He sighed.

'Happy late birthday to me.' Fletcher looked north to the barely visible mushroom cloud. It would rain later and bring all the radioactive crap down, dooming the land and the people for decades. He'd done that, along with killing hundreds of ponies without remorse. Men, women and children. Killed in less than the blink of an eye. Fletcher looked down, not sure if he should feel anything about it. They were all the enemy. All had denounced their Equestrian citizenship and declared themselves the enemies of their former home. Worse, they seemed to be allied to an old foe to the south. But many had been women and children. How many of them were there of their own free will? How many had been forced there, or taken there at the orders of the head of the family? Fletcher could never know. He sat contemplating what he had done until the chariot arrived late that night. The Pegasi pulling it said nothing as they took to the sky, not that Fletcher was in the mood for conversation. He would be getting barely any respite soon and wanted as much as possible.

Celestia paced the throne room, waiting for Fletcher to appear. She had been informed by Blitzkrieg that the griffins were looking to attack and had developed more atomic bombs. The doors opened and in walked the human she had grown to depend on in times of war.

'Michael, good to see you're back safely.' He nodded.

'Not that eleven bombs tried to take a bite out of me.' He rolled his shoulders. 'Though they do pack a mean punch.'

'That can wait. Please, sit.' She gestured to a chair next to a map table of Equestria. 'Tell me what you know of the griffin plans to attack us.'

'Yes ma'am.' Fletcher sat, sighing momentarily at the softness. 'When I first arrived at the Haygobah camp, I found nine unfinished atomic bombs in a workshop. The urneighium wouldn't arrive for another twenty weeks so I was stuck in that place until it did.'

'Why didn't you use that time to get in contact? If you had twenty weeks, why not alert us to the situation?' She moved to sit on the other side of the table.

'Because I was afraid of being discovered, or of the bombs being moved whilst is was gone.' He pointed to the region he had blown up. 'The trees there blocked my radio signal and the few routes in and out were heavily patrolled. It would have taken two or three hours to make my way out of them.'

'I see. And what happened to the encampment?'

'I blew it up using one of their bombs. Wiped all of them out and a fair amount of swamplands. I wouldn't recommend going there for the foreseeable future.' Celestia nodded and marked the area with a legend Fletcher didn't know. 'So what happens now?'

'Now we ready our forces and prepare to meet the griffin army as soon as they make a move.' She lowered her head. 'As Luna said to Luthor, Equestria will not start a war. But we will meet a show of force with a show of force.'

'Where is Luna anyway?' Fletcher hadn't seen her since arriving, but then, he'd been here for barely half an hour.

'She is visiting Ponyville. Twilight has had her engagement party and is now planning the wedding.' Fletcher glanced away. He'd missed that. 'Luna couldn't pass up the opportunity to observe how modern ponies plan weddings, especially since she missed Shining Armour and Cadance's two years ago.'

'And where was she for that?'

'I do not know. She merely said she had business to attend to and left it at that. I did not feel the need to pry.' Celestia decided how best to put it. 'Luna has had a difficult time adjusting to life after a thousand years. She will often disappear for hours or days at a time and say nothing about it.'

'Oh.' Fletcher shifted and sank lower into the chair, weariness creeping up on him. 'When will I be sent?'

'Soon. But not until the griffin army performs an act of harm against us and you are fully recovered.' She rose and Fletcher did the same. 'You are to return to your room and rest. You were gone for over half a year. You must be tired.' Fletcher nodded doggedly.

'Is that an order? To get some bed rest?'

'Yes, it is an order.' She pointed to the doors leading out of the room. 'You are hereby ordered to take several days, a week at the most, of bed rest.'

'Yes ma'am.' Fletcher bowed and left, his bed and a shower calling to him.

Refreshed and rejuvenated, Fletcher stood next to the princesses as Blitzkrieg told them about the military situation.

'We estimate the griffins have managed to gather somewhere in the region of fifty thousand troops in this area here.' He pointed along a stretch of land some fifty kilometres from the border. 'And another thirty here.' A series of rivers and streams forty kilometres from Equestrian territory.

'What do we have, troop wise, in those areas?' Celestia asked.

'Somewhere south of forty thousand spread across both areas and lightly armoured.'

'So we're outnumbered two to one.' Fletcher said. 'Could be worse.'

'This is only the western front.' He tapped at a trio of points. 'Here they outnumber us four to one at minimum.' Two more taps. 'Six to one.' A final tap. 'Eight.'

'Shit.' Fletcher shook his head. 'So what can I do to help turn these numbers around? Factories? Furnaces? Biological warfare?' The princesses shook their heads at each, more so at the last one.

'No. Even if you were to cripple their economic ability they would still have the soldiers necessary to win. And we will not stoop to using such tactics as biological weapons.'

'So if I'm not being sent to do anything like that, what will I be doing?' Luna levitated a scroll over.

'Seeking out their atomic weapons facility and destroying it and any research it has.' The Alicorn of the night told him. 'You may have destroyed those that the cult had but they came from griffin territory. And we have a few ideas on where the facility is located.' Fletcher unrolled the scroll and looked at it's contents. Three locations were marked on it, the closest fifteen-hundred kilometres away. The furthest three times that inside griffin lands.

'Oh boy. A sightseeing vacation into remote and unexplored lands filled with dangerous creatures. Can't wait.' He rolled the scroll back up. 'When do I leave?'

'When the griffin army begins to attack. Then we will take you as close as we possibly can to the first target. From there, though, you're on your own.' Blitzkrieg told him, pushing a few markers one way then the other. 'You have free reign over what methods to use in taking down any facilities you find but you are not allowed to engage any griffin soldiers en route unless it is to escape from them. Understand?'

'Yes sir.'

'Good.' The general moved a few markers back towards their original position, shaking his head sadly. Celestia and Luna stepped away from the table and Fletcher followed. He decided he would take every weapon he had, stored inside their boxes in case he had need of them. He frowned. He'd just gotten back from a trip of nearly thirty weeks and he was being sent on an even longer one in a more dangerous time. Fletcher sighed to himself. His life was just one mission after another. But it was for a good cause. He was fighting for the Elements of Harmony and the princesses. What could be a better cause than that?


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Five

It would be a further three weeks before the griffins made any kind of an attack into Equestria. They didn't attack in just one place. They attacked wherever they had troops. The stretch of land where Equestrian ponies were outnumbered only two to one managed to hold the line, even repel their attackers to the point where they were free to pursue. But the other fronts didn't fare as well. Within three days the griffins had broken through and headed towards the first of many cities. Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Baltimare. All were targeted and all were contested over. The soldiers of Equestria fought valiantly and in many cases the citizens came to their aid. But the sheer magnitude of the attack overwhelmed them and they were pushed back.

Fletcher had managed to get within one-hundred kilometres of his first target without incident but then a griffin air patrol had spotted and engaged them. The chariot was taken down, both Pegasi killed, and Fletcher flung from the wreckage. His body landed with a thud and rolled with the momentum of the crash until he slammed into a tree, winding himself, and came to an abrupt stop. Overhead the three griffins of the air patrol circled, looking for survivors. Fletcher didn't move and activated his camouflage systems. Eventual the griffins went away and resumed their patrol. Now Fletcher moved. He unwrapped himself from around the tree and clutched his stomach.

'Ow.' He lay there for what felt like an hour until the pain subsided a little before standing up and unclipping the rucksack from his back. Inside were the boxes for each weapon and the weapons themselves. He selected the MA5K and withdrew it along with twenty magazines and clipped them into place. The pistol followed with eight spare magazines. Fletcher repacked the boxes and set out, leaving the chariot and the pilots alone. If the griffins sent a team to inspect it, which they most likely would, he wanted to leave no evidence of his presence. He brought up the maps of the area and highlighted his first target.

It had been a false lead. There had been nothing there apart from a few withered hulks of buildings and twenty odd griffin soldiers. A trap, maybe. But it didn't matter. His orders had been clear: no engaging of enemy forces unless he was in danger of being captured. And given how easy it had been to spot the griffins, the human had managed to avoid them completely. Onto the next target, another six hundred kilometres across open terrain.

The journey took a little over a week to make and that was taking things carefully. The target came into view. It was much the same as the first. Hulks of once proud buildings hiding a number of griffin soldiers. But this was different. The griffins stationed here seemed to be more alert and cautious. They had something to hide. Fletcher drew his rifle and crept closer, making sure he stayed in the shadows and out of sight of the soldiers. This place had to hold some significance if they were defending it and if it had been on his list of targets. But then, so had the first place. Did that mean it was hiding something as well? He made a note to check it out when he headed back. But first he had to see what was so damn important about this place.

The first griffin was taken by surprise, the only warning he received was when an armoured hand clamped down over his beak and a sharp knife plunged into his neck, rendering him mute. Fletcher withdrew the knife and let him drop. One down, twenty-two more to go. A combination of silenced pistol shots, broken necks and knife wounds quickly brought the number of combatants down to just two: Fletcher and a lone griffin. He stalked behind the soldier and clamped down on his mouth.

'I have a few questions for you and you are going to be a good little griffin and answer them. Understand?' The griffin nodded. 'Now know this: you are alone up here. It's just you and me, no one else. But if you do try to call for help, I will cut out your tongue. Got it?' A second, shaking nod. He released the mouth.

'First question. What were you protecting here?'

'We're just told to keep a small platoon here and stop others from looking around the buildings.' He gulped a little.

'Did they give you any particular buildings to look after?'

'Just the one which still looks like a house.' Fletcher released the griffin.

'Show me.' He racked the bolt on his rifle. 'And if you even think about taking off I can clip both wings at fifty yards.' The wings clamped themselves into place as the human followed the griffin to one of the buildings. Unlike the others, which were practically empty shells held together with hope, this one was more structurally sound and actually had a roof and part of a single floor.

'This is all I know. Honest.' Fletcher nodded.

'I believe you.' He shot the griffin in the back of the head and entered the building proper. Desks and chairs were flung all over the place and piles of rubble took up most of the floor space. But if Fletcher looked closely enough he could see a faint path through the debris that had been used often and covered up just as much. He followed it to a disturbed pile of wood and gently lifted them aside. Underneath was a small metal hatch with a handle. Fletcher reached for it but checked the motion. He didn't know what he'd find down there and there wasn't much he could do to prepare for it. So instead he took his rucksack off and swapped his rifle for the shotgun.

Below the hatch was a dark corridor, and a foul smell came through the filters of the suit, prompting Fletcher to shut them down and activate the internal oxygen supply. He kept the shotgun raised as he stepped down the corridor, a damp affair with cracked tiles and mould lining the ceiling. Up ahead the low tones of conversation drifted back to him, the occasional clatter of tools joining them. He checked the gun was fully loaded before walking forwards. The corridor tilted at parts and weeds pushed through the floor. Broken light fixtures dotted the corridor and dark stains stretched down from them. Fletcher paused at the head of some stairs. The voices from before drifted up, clearer, but he couldn't make anything out. He descended down the stairs, unusually steep, and found himself on a more inviting corridor. The darkness had been replaced with a sickly illumination from a dozen or so lamps placed at regular intervals along a more intact hall. Several doorways led off of the walkway into numerous rooms. But Fletcher ignored these as he moved further into the underground structure.

'I'm telling you we can't make any more! We've exhausted all of our supply of urneighium to make cores for the bombs we gave to those ponies, only to have them blow up!' Fletcher peered past the door he was crouched behind. Beyond it was a medium sized room filled with griffins and a bewildering array of machines. Several griffins read out data from monitors or carried scrolls here and there. But the two Fletcher was listening to were stood to one side.

'That was unfortunate, but we still need to create more. The war with the Equestrians will be brutal and we need a way of showing them we can wipe them out quickly.' The first griffin who had spoken wore a lab coat that was streaked with dirt and grime. The second wore a detailed robe that was immaculate.

'But we have no more materials! We used all of them up.' He brought his claw down. 'How can we produce things without anything to make them with?'

'That is not my problem. You and your men have three days to create more of these cores and get them ready for deployment.' He turned and headed into an office, slamming the door behind him. Fletcher waited until the grimy scientist left before opening the door wider and crawling into an empty corner. His armour started to tick as the Geiger counter picked up an increase in the background radiation levels. To his right was a massive machine covered in warning labels. Fletcher moved slightly towards it and the radiation levels began to spike slightly. He backed off. That had to be what they prepared the urneighium in. Options. One, he could kill everyone here with his guns. Problem: he didn't know how many there were. Or two, he could wreck the machine and bury this place. That sounded a little easier and much more fun. He grinned and slipped back through the door he had entered through.

'I don't know where that bastard gets off on putting impossible demands on us. He knows we don't have the material needed for one core, let alone the five he wants.' The griffin let out a snort. 'He was the one who authorised the delivery of all that urneighium to those crazy cult ponies.' His colleague nodded in agreement.

'Yeah. Just because he wants to get into the queen's bed. I mean seriously? She isn't even that good looking!' The two continued to bicker over their boss until an explosion blew the door leading into the dorms away and a flame of fire leapt from the newly created portal to smash into and destroy one of the measuring devices used for monitoring the level of enrichment in the materials. Immediately alarms blared into life as another two pillars of smoke lanced from the door and hit the enrichment chamber itself.

'Everyone evacuate! The chamber has lost containment! Get out of here!' The entire room began to scramble towards the door only for another explosion to destroy it and bring down tonnes of rubble. There had been a single griffin stood beneath the doorway who was crushed beneath the shower of dirt and rocks. The remaining griffins clawed at the blockade in a vain hope of escaping. Behind them the chamber finally gave and released radioactive gasses into the room. Every one of them doubled their efforts to escape but they were doomed.

Fletcher aimed at the head of the stairs and fired twice. The two rockets flew and impacted, throwing a powerful shockwave and dust towards him. He shrugged it off and waited for the dust to settle. After the twin impacts of the warheads, the roof above the steps had collapsed and deposited tonnes of soil. Nothing was getting through that. Satisfied, the human remerged from the hatch and into the light of day. Now he had to visit the last, and furthest, target on his list. A grand total of three thousand, four-hundred kilometres to his target before a mammoth five and a half thousand kilometre trek back to Canterlot. He did a quick estimate of the time it would take for him to walk that alone. He was dismayed to discover it would take nearly six months if everything went correctly.

'Fuck.'

Two months, and several radioed reports on his progress later, Fletcher emerged from the burning remnant of a building used to design and manufacture the small components inside the atomic bombs. He'd also learned that the first place he'd passed by, the one he thought was a trap, was nothing more than a soon to be abandoned storage area for obsolete or broken components. Behind him the building continued to burn, none of the thirty griffins inside able to escape. He now had to head back home. Back to Canterlot, which would take him nearly four months to walk.

'Shit.' He knew the war in Equestria wasn't going well. Blitzkrieg had told him that more than half of it was under griffin control and was slowly expanding. Fletcher needed to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible. If not to help repel the griffins, then the secure the princesses and the Elements before escaping to a safer location. The only thing standing in his way was a journey of over five thousand kilometres in a straight line through forests, hills and mountains. Add to that he had to avoid griffin cities and soldiers it would be over four months, if not more. Fletcher began to jog back, exchanging the rifle for the SMG.

He got to within two thousand kilometres of the castle when the radio screamed at him, the emergency broadcast system giving off a continuous beep. Fletcher stopped, frozen in shock. That signal could only mean Canterlot had fallen to the enemy and the castle was overthrown. He sank to his knees. The princesses, the castle, everything was more than likely gone. Fletcher rose to his feet and started walking again. He had to get back. He had to make sure the griffins responsible paid for what they did. Even if it killed him.

By the fourth day the signal had died, leaving static in it's wake. Fletcher found himself worrying more and more. Had Celestia and Luna escaped? Or were one or both being held captive by the griffin army? He seriously wished it was the former. Griffins were merciless to their prisoners, especially female ones, and the more important they were the worse their treatment. He swore and slammed his fist into a nearby tree. Why did he have to be sent out when this happened? The next time they suggested something like this he'd decline or insist they stay inside the cube until it was all over. The static on the radio ended abruptly. Fletcher paused and brought up the menu with the active signals he was receiving. The EBS was still there, only no longer sending out static. Someone was broadcasting on the channel.

'_Hello? Is this, uh hang on.' _The rustle of papers sounded over the airwaves. Fletcher blinked. Someone was broadcasting. The EBS signal had spiked when that voice had spoken. '_Ah, here it is. Is this Michael Fletcher? Of the Royal Guards?'_

'Yes. Please identify yourself. This is a restricted military channel.' He waited.

'_This is Rain Maker. I live in Canterlot and I've been given this radio and told to get in contact with you.'_

'Who gave you this radio? And what's the situation in Canterlot?'

'_A guard called Barricade just handed me it, along with a bunch of notes and I'm sorry to say Canterlot has fallen and both princesses have been captured.'_

'Fuck.' Fletcher sat down against the tree he had hit earlier. He knew of the pony Barricade, but couldn't be too sure this Rain Maker was telling the truth. 'Hey Rain Maker. When Barricade dropped the radio off, did he still have those stupid wing guards on?'

'_Wing guards? He was an Earth pony. He doesn't need wing guards.' _Okay, this guy was truthful.

'Little test, you passed. Why did Barricade give you that radio? Why didn't he contact me?'

'_Barricade has joined the fighting arm of the Ponies Front of Canterlot. I'm too small to join so I'm stuck handling the radio.'_

'Oh. Well what about the princesses? What have the griffins done to them?' The rustle of papers came back as Rain Maker shifted through his notes.

'_Nothing so far. But Barricade has written down that he thinks they'll be flogged in public before-' _The pony stopped.

'They'll be what? Come on, tell me.' Rain Maker took a deep breath, readying himself.

'_Executed. He thinks they'll be executed.' _Fletcher stood back up again and resumed walking.

'When?'

'_A week, maybe more.'_

'Shit.' It would be too late for Fletcher to save the princesses or even bury them. In a week he'd be lucky to get three or four hundred kilometres closer. He needed a way to get there quickly. 'Do you have any Pegasi who could come pick me up?'

'_No. All flights in and out of Canterlot are heavily monitored and if two Pegasi are seen leaving with a chariot they wouldn't even make it past the castle wall.' _Rain Maker let out a defeated sigh. '_I'm sorry, but there isn't anything we can do to stop them. This looks like the end.' _Fletcher growled, more at the situation than at the pony.

'I don't care. When I get to Canterlot, I'm going to kill every single last one of those overstuffed chickens and then I'm going to pay Griffonia a visit.'

'_Uh-' _Rain Maker started to say something but decided against it. '_Just get here soon. Please.' _The link went dead as the pony shut down the radio. Fletcher clenched and unclenched his left hand out of anger. He was nearly two thousand kilometres away and the princesses were about to be killed.

'I could really use a Warthog right now. Hell, even an Elephant would do.' As soon as he said this his faceplate brought up a new window that read 'LOCATING CACHE'. It was soon replaced with a NAV marker pointing to somewhere to the east. Fletcher raised an eyebrow. The fuck was going on? Curiosity got the better of him and he began following the blue arrow. The distance on it read about six kilometres, not a massive detour.

It led him to a mound of earth in the middle of nowhere. As soon as the human got close the mound began to rumble and grow in size. Grass and soil were ripped apart as a metal container rose from the depths of the ground and presented Fletcher with a massive door. It hissed and opened, allowing him access to whatever was inside. Fletcher took a tentative step into the artificial cave and stopped in his tracks.

'No fucking way.'


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Six

Celestia raised her head and opened her eyes at the sound of the door into her cell being unlocked. Two griffin soldiers walked in, brandishing a rope and chain.

'Get up.' The first said. He eyed the Alicorn with a look of hatred as she did as he asked. It had been almost a week since they'd taken Canterlot and a week since they'd captured both the princesses. The chain was wrapped around Celestia's middle, trapping her wings, whilst the rope was tied around her neck in a loose noose. She said nothing as the griffins led her out of her cell. Luna was led out of her cell in much the same manner. The two sisters shared a brief look before they were dragged to a wooden stage in the courtyard. Jeers and boos met them along with thrown chunks of meat. A few impacted and left bloody marks on Celestia's coat. Together they were tied to hastily built poles and had all four hooves chained in place. The crowd behind them continued to hurl meat and insults their way but the two princesses ignored them. Instead they fixed their gaze on the poles in front. Eventually the booing changed to cheering as two griffins brandishing whips emerged and took up position behind the two. They cracked their whips on the floor, stirring up the crowd into a frenzy of shouts. Celestia risked a glance at Luna, giving her a small smile which she returned. The whip cracks stopped and the crowd fell silent. Celestia knew what would happen next. The two griffins would begin the display, hitting both her and Luna until it was time for the execution. The crowd began the clap in unison, getting impatient and eager to see blood. Celestia closed her eyes and readied herself as best she could. The first whiplash hit her on her cutie mark. Beside her Luna was struck on the exact same spot. Neither uttered a sound. Nor did they on the next strike. Or the next.

Celestia was breathing heavily through gritted teeth. The whipping had lasted for close to two hours. Her back, sides and leg were covered in cuts and screamed in pain. But still neither she nor Luna had made any noise. Even without looking, the Alicorn knew that the crowd had dwindled away to practically nothing. The initial thrill of the display had worn off within half an hour and now only a dozen griffins remained. But that would not last. With one final strike the whipping stopped and the two griffins left. Celestia closed her eyes, knowing what was soon to follow. Another two griffins would emerge, brandishing axes and wearing black masks. The executioners. Luna rattled her chains slightly to get her sister's attention. Celestia opened her eyes and faced her sister, possible for the last time. She was smiling and a solitary tear crept down from her eye. It would all be over soon. By now the noise level was starting to rise as more griffins returned to the courtyard and cheered when the executioners appeared. The chains holding the princesses in place were removed and they were led to two identical wooden blocks. Chains were exchanged for ropes as the sisters had their necks placed onto the blocks and tied down. Celestia looked out over a sea of griffins, jeering at her. Anger at them filled her mind and she wished for nothing more than to see them struck down. But then she thought of Twilight, and what would happen to her and her friends if she or Luna fought back. A heavy piece of cloth was draped over her eyes and the world was lost to darkness.

The two griffins took up position either side of the Alicorns. Celestia could hear them perfectly as her breathing increased. She wasn't afraid of death. After living for well over a thousand years she had faced it before. But she was afraid for Luna, for Twilight, for all her subjects and what would happen to them. She felt tears begin to form as the griffins raised their axes, grunting slightly at the exertion. This was it. This was the end for and for her beloved sister. Time seemed to stretch, each second feeling like an eternity. Then it happened. She heard the dull thud of metal landing on wood to her left. The tears fell.

'Luna.' She whispered. 'I am so sorry.' She heard a collective gasp ripple through the crowd as the tears continued to fall. She would soon be joining her sister. Celestia reflected back on her long life. The defeat of Discord, the destruction of the Gravemind, the banishment and return of her sister. Each event had been marred with sadness or anger, but then it had been replaced with joy. Discord had been locked away once again, the Gravemind eradicated and Luna had returned to her. The memory of her sister, now gone forever, brought fresh waves of tears from the lone princess. She was ready for death. It never came. The dull thud of metal on wood came from her side and she could just make out the soft thump of a body falling. She tried to process this. Then screams erupted from the assembled crowd of griffins as two sharp cracks echoed across the courtyard which Celestia instantly recognised as one of Michael's many weapons. He was here!

'Luna? Luna! Are you okay?' Celestia had to know if her sister was alright.

'Yes Tia. I-I'm fine.' Celestia let out a cry of relief. 'When that thud sounded I thought they had killed you.' Now Celestia gave a weak laugh.

'I thought they had killed you.' The screams of the griffin crowd was partially drowned out by a series of small explosions. Grenades, if Celestia remembered correctly. Then came to sound of hooves swarming into the courtyard and battle cries filled the air. Two more cracks echoed and two more soft thumps announced Michael had taken more griffins out. Both princesses remained stationary, not wanting to move. The sound of armoured feet told them someone had arrived and Celestia's blindfold was taken off. She blinked at the harshness of her sun as the restraints holding her in place were removed. She stood, shakily and looked to her sister to see Michael removing her blindfold and ropes. As soon as she was free the younger Alicorn wrapped her sister in a tight hug, crying in relief and joy. Celestia hugged her back.

'Oh Tia, I thought I'd lost you!' The older Alicorn said nothing, focusing on keeping her sister close for as long as possible. A cough brought them out of their reunion and directed them to the armoured figure that had released them. He was carrying his rifle and had depolarised his faceplate to look at them.

'We need to move. Now.' He aimed past them and fired a brief burst, downing a griffin that had tried to attack them. 'Are you able to walk much?' He glanced at the wounds on the legs of both princesses. Celestia was unsure and tried to walk a few paces. She could manage, but it was shaky and fire lanced up her legs with each step. Luna was in much the same position.

'Yes, but barely.' She rattled the chain holding her wings in place. 'But we can probably fly.' Michael nodded and removed them. Both flexed their wings experimentally but found they were covered in cuts as well.

'That's a no.' Michael polarised his faceplate and signalled for the two to follow, leading them away from the battle between the Ponies Front of Canterlot and the griffins in the courtyard and back into the castle. It was slow going. Every now and then a griffin would appear only to be cut down by a flurry of bullets. Celestia and Luna often had to wait behind a corner whilst Michael took care of a large group but they eventually made it out a back entrance and into the houses around the castle. Michael led them to a building that been smashed open by something big.

'Princesses, where are the Elements?' Michael asked as he scanned the street and motioned for the two sisters to hide inside the house.

'Ponyville. They were there when Canterlot was captured.' Luna explained. 'We were taken prisoner willingly with the promise nothing would happen to them.' She took a look at the inside of the building they were in and let out a shrill cry when she spotted something big hiding in the shadows. The human span round, rifle at the ready, to see what was posing a threat but lowered it when he realised what Luna had spotted.

'I see you've met my ride. I call her Shelia.' There was a hint of a grin in his voice as Celestia walked over to her sister and stared at Shelia as Michael had called it. Shelia was big and menacing looking. It was gunmetal green and carried a long barrel mounted on a turret set at the back of the main body, giving the appearance of something like a scorpion. Michael joined them and produced the Dyson Cube.

'If you wouldn't mind getting in the cube. Shelia may be big but she can't carry all three of us inside her.' He placed the crystal on the floor. 'When I let you out I'll have the Elements and their families with me so you might want to sort some extra houses out.' Celestia and Luna nodded before vanishing in a flash of light into the cube. Michael picked it up and placed it back into his armour as he headed for Shelia.

A lance of ten griffin soldiers were making their way up one of the many streets that littered Canterlot, searching for the princesses and their damned guard. They cleared one street then began walking down another. This place was more than likely where they were hiding given the close proximity to the castle. But something was off about this particular street. Many of the cobbles and slabs making up the road had been crushed by something big and heavy. Twin trails led to a building that had a gaping hole in the front. Cautiously the lance made their way towards it, peering into the maw. A low rumble and a bright light flared into existence as a massive metal monster appeared and came straight for them. The lance scattered and fled from the monster as it span on an unseen axis and headed for the gates out of Canterlot.

Fletcher was laughing as he pushed the acceleration yoke as far forward as he could and worked the two pedals by his feet to manoeuvre past the resident ponies. Griffins and carts were left to smash on the tough armour of the Scorpion tank as it blasted past. Up ahead a griffin lance was readying a barricade of wood and stones in an attempt to stop him. He aimed the cannon onto the half built blockade.

'Firing main cannon.' He grinned and pulled the trigger, watching in satisfaction as the griffins and their work were obliterated. The tank continued to roll forward and smashed through the remains and sped onwards towards the gates to Canterlot and freedom. More griffins began to arrive and set up blockades but were ultimately unsuccessful as the tank powered through them until the only thing standing in his way were the wooden gates of Canterlot. Three shots from the cannon later they fell and Fletcher accelerated past them and onto the track leading out of the city. The tank's radar picked up over two dozen targets inbound as it rolled towards Ponyville. Fletcher stopped the tank and swivelled the turret to face the incoming griffins and opened fire with the machine gun, ripping them to pieces. Half a dozen survived and limped back the way they came.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, taking a little over three hours to make. Dust and dirt was thrown up in the tank's wake. When Fletcher had first found the tank inside the container he'd been dumbfounded at first. It was a Scorpion tank, sitting in front of him and just waiting for a pilot. He'd scrambled in and fired it up, quickly grasping the simple controls. There were two joysticks, one which controlled acceleration and one which aimed the cannon and fired it. At his feet were two pedals that controlled the direction and could make the tank spin on the spot. He had immediately dubbed it Shelia.

A few griffins were patrolling the outer edges of Ponyville when Fletcher arrived in the tank, running them down and barely feeling the bump as the tracks crushed the three soldiers to death. He swerved to avoid a cart and pulled up outside Sugarcube Corner, firing with the machine gun at anything griffin. Most of the ponies had fled at the sight of the tank. The remaining few joined them when the tank began mowing down the soldiers. When no more targets presented themselves, Fletcher popped the hatch and leaped down from the tank and into the confectionary shop. Inside the Cakes were hiding behind the counter, their babies crying in fright.

'Pinkie, where is she?' Fletcher asked as he moved towards them. Mr Cake raised a shaking hoof and pointed to the centre of town.

'She's being held in the town hall with the others. It's like a head quarters for the griffins.' He lowered his hoof and wrapped it protectively round his daughter.

'Thanks.' Fletcher left and climbed back into the tank. It rumbled to life and was soon sat outside the town hall. More griffins had tried to take it on but nothing they did come close to damaging it. Rather than waste ammunition on them, Fletcher allowed them to pummel on the ceramic plating until they grew tired.

'Enough fun and games.' He fired up the external speakers and addressed the gathered griffins. 'I have one simple request. Bring the Elements of Harmony and any of their family members you have as well out here or I blow each and every one of you sky high.' He traversed the barrel to aim it at one small segment of the griffins.

'But we outnumber you. You can't hope to take us all on.' One of the griffins called out. Fletcher swivelled the gun to him.

'And yet here I am after all of you tried to kill me just now. So,' He edged the tank forward slightly, making several griffins jump back. 'Bring me the Elements and their families or I start to get angry and you die.' No one moved. Fletcher sighed and backed up a little and took aim on a cluster of griffins to his left, unleashing a shell from the main cannon. The targeted griffins exploded in a flurry of body parts and shrapnel, leaving behind a bloody crater. The barrel turned to the next cluster.

'Elements and families. Now.' A single griffin ran into the town hall, emerging ten minutes later with all of the ponies Fletcher had asked for. They seemed unharmed as they walked towards the tank. Fletcher backed up slightly to allow them room to pass. 'Get to Sugarcube Corner and wait for me.' The ponies nodded and edged past the tank. 'You griffins are going to get back inside the town hall and wait for an hour until you can come out again. If I see just one of you outside before that, I will kill each and every fucking one of you before pissing on your corpses. Got it?' They nodded and made their way slowly back inside. The girls and their families made their way to Sugarcube Corner and as soon as they were out of sight, Fletcher raised the Scorpion's cannon and began methodically firing into each level of the town hall until it collapsed. Dust and silence settled as the tank fired one last shell into the remains of the building and reversed until it was parked outside Sugarcube Corner once again. Fletcher dismounted and walked inside to the fourteen gathered ponies. He was immediately mobbed with questions, most concerned with the princesses.

'They're fine and I have them here with me.' He retrieved the cube from it's pouch. 'And that's why I needed all of you here.' He held the cube to his mouth and began the release procedure. Soon enough both Celestia and Luna had joined them. Twilight instantly drew her mentor into a hug, saying how happy she was at her safe return. The Alicorn of the day nuzzled her student before pushing her away.

'Michael, I assume we are all being evacuated?' She walked over, wincing with each step. The others gasped when they saw her wounds, as well as Luna's.

'Yes. Equestria has been overrun and I can't guarantee your safety any more. All of you will need to go inside the cube.' He raised the cube and held it for everyone to see. 'And I'll also need the location of Shining Armour and Cadance. They fall under my charter to the House of the Demon.'

'Of course.' Celestia levitated a scroll over and wrote down on a single name. 'Here. This is the last known location of Shining Armour and Cadance.' Fletcher took the scroll from her and folded it away into his rucksack.

'You all ready?' The gathered ponies nodded sadly. Well those that had been inside the cube nodded. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Granny Smith shared confused looks. Celestia took the cube and placed it on the floor then she and Luna positioned themselves either side of the ten ponies. A brief flash of light later they were safely locked away inside the cube. The Cakes emerged from behind the counter, bewildered looks on their faces.

'Wh-what was all that about?' Mr Cake asked.

'Procedure.' Fletcher told him as he placed the cube back in it's compartment. 'You might want to forget I was even here.' He left and got back into Shelia, powering her up and heading east and towards Shining Armour and Cadance's last known location.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Seven

Shelia made good progress as she trundled down the path and out of Whitetail woods. It had been a day since Fletcher had rescued the Elements and was now on his way to Baltimare to pick up the two remaining ponies for the cube. A light began to flash on the small screen in front of him. He tapped a few buttons and brought up the alert. Low fuel. He sighed and activated the map function, locating the nearest water source. Like all UNSC ground vehicles, the Scorpion ran off of a hydrogen fuel cell which was now running out. But unlike other UNSC vehicles, the Scorpion was big enough to carry an onboard hydrogen converter. All it needed was a supply of water and it could keep going indefinitely. He brought the tank to a halt near a small river and Fletcher dismounted, quickly locating the correct compartment on the tank's outer shell. He pulled the hose out and dropped the nozzle into the water. Immediately a low humming came from some hidden machine as the process started. Fletcher drew his rifle and sat on top of the turret, watching for danger.

It took an hour for the tank to be refilled with fuel and the sun was beginning to set. Fletcher repacked the hose and started the tank back up again. He needed to find some decent cover for the tank. It stuck out amidst all the fields and he had no camouflage netting to cover it up. Or he could just keep driving. Baltimare was a scant five-hundred kilometres from his position and Shelia could maintain a good fifty kilometres an hour until her fuel ran out again. But Fletcher couldn't. His eyes began to grow heavy as the tank rolled onwards. He decided to just pull over and sleep in the cockpit. If any griffins came in the night the radar system would pick them up. Shelia came to a stop next to a small copse of trees and shut down. Inside Fletcher undid his restraints and sagged into the uncomfortable seat, quickly falling asleep.

The sun was reaching to midway point in the sky as the tank crested the final hill and Baltimare came into view. From the looks of things it was still being fought over. Eight griffin trebuchets launched rock after rock into the city and dozens of griffin lances rushed into the streets. Fletcher paused and sighted on the nearest artillery piece, targeting the base, and fired. The tank lurched slightly as the wooden structure collapsed. Fletcher switched targets and fired at the second and third war machines and turned them to kindling. By the fifth successful hit the remaining three were swung about and launched their deadly cargo at him. Fletcher grinned and pushed the acceleration yoke forward, firing at the sixth. The last two launched their final salvo before a HE shell finished them off. Fletcher brought up the ammunition read out and scowled. He had ten shells left and the machine gun was down to fifty percent. Then he grinned. He still had the last resort weapon of the tank itself. Shelia growled as she was forced over the remains of a trebuchet and into the streets of Baltimare.

Griffin soldiers either ran or were crushed under the powerful treads before launching a futile attack on the massive metal monster. Fletcher fired short bursts into the crowd as he pushed on to what he hoped were the front lines. Around him the devastation of war was apparent as houses and buildings were crumbling or splattered with the blood of soldiers and civilians. The tank swivelled round a corner and came across a true battle. Griffins and ponies were locked in combat as they swung swords, hammers and maces or fired combat spells and bows and arrows. Many jumped at the appearance of the Scorpion tank before resuming their individual fights. Fletcher stopped when he was near the pony line and popped the hatch and leant out, waving down a soldier.

'I need to find Shining Armour. Where is he?' Fletcher shouted over the sounds of battle. The pony just pointed further back into the city. Fletcher nodded in thanks and hopped out, grabbing his rifle and ran the way the pony had indicated. Along the way he saw unicorns administer medical spells to the wounded, or give last rites to those too far gone to save. An unknown memory flashed into Fletcher's mind, only the ponies were replaced with UNSC Marines after a long and bloody battle. He shook it from his head and finally found what he was looking for. A tent with the cutie mark of Celestia on the side. He rushed over and entered. Inside were five ponies, two of which were Fletcher's targets. They all looked up at his arrival. Shining Armour waved him over.

'What's the situation?' He asked as he moved markers on a map of Baltimare.

'Canterlot has fallen and I'm here to put you and Cadance into protective custody until we can retake it and Equestria.' He produced the cube. 'So please, get inside.' Shining Armour shook his head.

'My place is with my men on the battle field. I am not running and hiding.' He looked Fletcher in the eye. 'And I don't care what you say. I am not going to leave them.' Fletcher glanced at Cadance.

'Does that go for you too?' She nodded and stood by her husband, wrapping a wing around him.

'I will not leave him, no matter what.'

'You do know what will happen when the griffins break through and capture you, right?' Shining Armour went to nod but shook his head.

'If, and only if, you are very lucky they will kill you where you stand. But they will try to take you alive and then you'll wish you'd be dead.' Fletcher glanced at the three other ponies and pointed to the flap on the tent. They took the hint and left. 'You, Shining Armour, will be beaten over and over again by dozens of griffin soldiers. And when you're on the verge of death they'll heal you up and start all over again until your body eventually gives out.'

'And Cadance?'

'If she's lucky, she'll only be whipped in public before being executed. That's what I saved Celestia and Luna from a few days ago. If she's unlucky she'll be passed from griffin to griffin for them to use as a toy. And that will go on for days before she's killed.' The Alicorn took a step back, eyes widening in fear. Fletcher held up the cube. 'But if both of you go in here you'll be safe from harm. And when the time comes for Equestria to strike back, you'll be released to help fight the griffins back.'

'How can you know that all that would happen to us? You've been behind enemy lines for months!' Shining Armour said.

'I have a radio contact in Canterlot who told me some of the things the griffins were doing in to the local population. Believe me; you would be better off inside the cube. Twilight's in there.'

'What about my parents? Are they okay?' Fletcher shrugged.

'I don't know where they're likely to be so your guess is as good as mine.' The unicorn sagged a little. Cadance wrapped her wing round him again and nuzzled him gently. Fletcher looked down and let out a small sigh. 'However, if you could tell me where they would most likely be I can go find and secure them for you.' Shining Armour looked up.

'Really? You would?' Fletcher nodded. 'Oh that's great! But how would you get to them? Most of Equestria has been taken over.'

'Don't worry about that. I have a way of getting places without being stopped. Now,' He held up the cube again. 'If you wouldn't mind?'

'How do we do that?' Cadance asked.

'Just imagine it's a teleport, but you're aiming for the cube. Keep a hold of Shining Armour and don't let go. The cube will do the rest.' The Alicorn nodded as her husband finished writing down the locations he thought his parents would be.

'But what about my men? I can't just leave them here without orders.' Shining Armour handed the scroll over. 'They're still my responsibility.'

'Head north. Tell them to head north and evacuate any remaining civilians in the city.' The unicorn nodded at the idea, quickly realising that any pursuing griffins would have to stretch their supply lines to give chase.

'Got it. Let me just tell my second in command the plan.' He left for a few seconds before returning. 'Alright. They know what to do. All we need is something to keep the griffins occupied whilst we evacuate.'

'I can do that. Now hurry and get inside.' Shining Armour nodded and stood next to his wife, sharing a brief kiss as her horn began to glow. A flash of light later they were inside. Fletcher picked up the cube and stowed it. He emerged from the tent and pulled over one of the three ponies now in charge.

'Get your men ready to withdraw now. I'll make a distraction for you.' The pony nodded and ran off, giving the order to fall back. Fletcher moved past them and back to Shelia. She was undamaged and came to life as soon as he hit the start button. He swivelled the barrel to face the griffin troops in the area and fired short, controlled bursts at those by themselves. Slowly the numbers fell away as the ponies learned that if they ran from their fight the griffin would be cut down by the massive monster that had joined their cause. Eventually they fell back, heading north, under the protection of the lone Scorpion tank.

An hour would pass before all the remaining Equestrian civilians and soldiers evacuated safely from the city, Fletcher firing his machine gun in short bursts of ten rounds and noting that the ammunition supply was rapidly dropping to zero. The tank backed up onto a hill half a mile from the city. In front of it griffin troops moved forwards, warily, and occasionally threw bows his way. Behind the tank the Equestrian ponies were taking flight, teleporting or just flat out running away from the battle. They needed time and that was what Fletcher was going to do. He waited for a large cluster of griffins to present themselves then unleashed a single HE shell. One down, nine to go. Machine gun fire tore into those flying overhead and deterred any more from trying it. Two trebuchets were wheeled into view and launched two rocks at him. Fletcher slammed the acceleration yoke forward and avoided the missiles. Two more shells were launched downrange and took out the wooden weapons and the machine gun cut down the front lines. An alarm sounded as the ammunition count reached ten percent for the machine gun. Fletcher ignored it and continued firing. Then it ran out and he fired his last seven shells at the griffin positions. Now he was out of ammo for everything. He switched to the rear view camera and was happy to see no ponies. His work was done. The onboard computer flashed a message saying he needed to return for rearmament at the nearest UNSC outpost. Fletcher toggled the sounds off and pulled up the location of the cache he had found the tank in. He pushed the yoke as far forward as possible and smashed through the griffin lines and headed deep into hostile territory once again.

The trip had been awash in terms of actual danger. Whilst the majority of the griffin troops had opted to pursue him, they lacked anything that could even put a dent into the armour. That, in combination with the fact Fletcher had aimed the tank northwest to start with, meant they abandoned their pursuit and returned to the newly captured Baltimare. When the last griffin was gone Fletcher turned around and drove Shelia towards griffin lands and to the supply cache. He hadn't had much time to explore it, taking the briefest of glimpse as he climbed into the tank and drove off to rescue the princesses. But now he would and see what other surprises it had in store for him.

Twilight was rearranging the books on one of the many shelves in her house, putting them in alphabetical order whilst Big Mac watched her, smiling faintly.

'You could help you know.' Twilight said. She placed two books in the correct order as her fiancée continued to watch.

'Eeyup.' She cast a side long glance at him. 'But Ah know you'd do it faster without mah help.'

'I guess. But still,' She slid the last book home. 'You could have at least offered to help in the first place.' The unicorn sat down next to the Earth pony and rested her head on his shoulder.

'Eeyup.' They sat like that for an hour or so, just sitting there. Twilight sighed and stood. It had been about four days since they had once again entered the cube, which meant it had been eight outside. Familiar feelings of guilt bubbled to the surface as the unicorn thought of Michael risking himself to protect them whilst they lived in safety within the little town that Princess Celestia had built for them. It had grown a little, an extra house being provided for her brother and Cadance. She had wrapped her brother in a tight hug, which he had returned and told her Michael was searching for their parents. She'd cried tears of relief at this and hugged him even tighter.

'Twilight, is something bothering you?' Big Mac asked as she began pacing.

'Maybe. I just feel so guilty like I did before. Michael is out there by himself risking his life to get my parents to safety and here we are sleeping in warm beds at night.' She sighed. 'And we didn't even get to thank him for before. I'm a bad friend, aren't I?' Big Mac pulled her into a hug, rubbing a hoof down her back.

'No, you're not. You're the best friend anypony could ever wish for. And Ah ask mahself every morning and every night how Ah could have ever gotten such a wondrous mare to agree to marry me.' He kissed her just below her horn. 'And Ah feel bad about it too, but he does it because he can do it and he cares. If he didn't care, he wouldn't be risking his life for ours.' Twilight didn't respond. Instead she kissed Big Mac back.

The trip to the cache had taken a few days, fuel stops included, and the tank rumbled to a stop outside a disturbed patch of earth. The ground shook as the artificial cave rose and rotated to present the entrance to Fletcher. He backed Shelia in and as soon as she was safely inside the doors closed. Lights flickered on, bathing the area in a harsh white light as Fletcher dismounted. Already automated systems began checking the tank for damage and reloading it. It was bigger than Fletcher had originally thought and filled with lockers stocked with ammunition for every weapon he owned.

'Holy crap. How many of these are there?' Fletcher asked aloud as he continued to explore. Along the wall to the right of the doors were the lockers of ammunition. On the left side Fletcher found something different. He found two Warthogs, both with the machine gun on the back. He grinned. Now he could get around a whole lot quicker. Leaving the two Warthogs, Fletcher turned his attention to the far wall in hopes of finding something else of use. He found a small living space with a cot for him to sleep on and a shower area to wash up in. That was his priority right now. It had been far too long since he'd had either and his body just called out for both.

Shelia shuddered into life as Fletcher hit the button to power her up. Both ammunition counters read full and the fuel status was the same. He eased the tank out of the cave and into darkness then headed north and back into the warzone that was Equestria and towards Twilight and Shining Armour's parents. He still had to secure them from whatever danger they were in and according to Shining Armour, they were located in Canterlot which Fletcher had carved a path through nearly two weeks ago. Now he had to go back in and rescue two ponies he had no clue as to their actual whereabouts or what they really looked like. Despite Twilight often talking about them, he'd never really seen a picture of them. Shining Armour had insisted in his scroll that they would more than likely be in their home. Or failing that, they would be at a friend's house. There were several addresses that fell under that domain, giving a total of at minimum one house, at maximum five, to search whilst evading griffins. Then he had to escort two unicorns to a place of safety where he could release Celestia or Luna and have them take the couple into the cube. After that he was free to evacuate from the city and return to the safety of the cache. What fun that would be. The tank growled a little as it drove over a small hill and continued towards the city. The night sky was cloudless and once again lacked the beauty it once had without Luna governing it.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Eight

Fletcher tracked the lance of griffins with his rifle, waiting for them to leave. When they did he edged out from his hiding place and into the street. It was dark with only a few intact lamps providing a feeble amount of illumination as he moved to one of the houses and quietly knocked. A lone voice called out.

'Who's there?'

'A friend of the Ponies Front of Canterlot seeking the parents of Twilight Sparkle.'

'Very well. You may enter.' The door opened and Fletcher was led into a dark and dusty room. It had been three days since he'd arrived back in Canterlot, stashed Shelia just to the south and tracked down the two unicorns he had set out to find. After a long conversation with Rain Maker over the radio he had managed to get in contact with one of the small cells scattered across the city which had the ponies he was after.

There were two sofas and a single chair which Fletcher settled into. Two unicorns, a mare and a stallion, bearing coffee emerged and sat down opposite him, levitating a cup over. The human accepted it, thanking them, and removed his helmet. The smell of dust and grime hit him immediately. He took a preliminary sip of the coffee, finding it to be too sweet for his liking.

'So you want to take both Mr and Mrs Minerva into protective custody, just like you have done for their son and daughter?' The stallion asked.

'Yes. My superiors feel that they may be in more danger because of the significant relationships they have with Equestrian Royalty.' He took another sip. 'I would be placing them in a safe location until the matter with the griffins is resolved.'

'And what about the rest of us? We're in danger too.' The mare gestured around them. 'We are putting our lives on the line trying to resist the griffins and you waltz in here and say you're going to protect them, and only them?'

'Look, if there were a way to save all of you I'd do my best to do it. But the place I'm sending them to will only allow certain people inside.' Fletcher drained his coffee and set the cup down. 'And my orders come from Princess Celestia herself. If you have a problem with them, take it up with her.' Both unicorns shut their mouths at that. 'Now can I please see Mr and Mrs Minerva?' They nodded and left the room, returning with two more unicorns. Fletcher slipped his helmet back on.

'Mr and Mrs Minerva?' They nodded. 'I'm Michael Fletcher and I have orders to get you two to safety.'

'Where are Twilight and Shining? Are they safe?' The father, Night Light if Fletcher remembered correctly, asked as he stepped closer.

'Yes, they're fine. And they're both waiting for you.' He stood. 'Now if you could follow me we need to get somewhere more deserted to properly send you. Shall we?' He gestured to the door and began walking towards it, drawing his rifle. The two ponies who had first greeted Fletcher said their goodbyes to Night Light and Twilight Velvet. More soon came and ended up having a tearful group hug in the hallway. When it was finished the human led the unicorns into the street after making sure it was clear. Satisfied it was he led them to an abandoned house he had found earlier, ushering them in and into a back room.

'What are you going to do now?' Velvet asked. Night Light stood next to his wife and gave Fletcher an inquisitive look.

'I need somewhere isolated and quiet to send you to your kids.' He retrieved the cube and spoke to it, asking only for Celestia. She emerged with a flash, Twilight's parents bowing at the sight of her.

'Michael, how are you?' Celestia asked when she had greeted the two bowing ponies.

'Breathing.' He pointed at Night Light and Twilight Velvet. 'Got two more for you.'

'Of course.' She focused her magic and sent the two into the cube, leaving her and Fletcher alone. 'Do you have any idea as to how long we may be inside for?' Fletcher shook his head.

'No. Most of our troops are either too wounded to fight or have been captured. The soldiers based in Baltimare headed north but after that I've no idea what their status is. And as for the rest of Equestria?' He shrugged. 'No clue.' Celestia winced as she moved and sat beside Fletcher.

'You realise it may be many months, even years, before Equestria is safe again. Are you sure you can keep going for that long?'

'Yes ma'am. It's my job and I have a few new toys to play with. Shelia being one of them.'

'But what will you actually do until we return?'

'Blow shit up. Griffonia is an easy place to break into and get intelligence on their infrastructure. If I can take that out the griffin situation will be that bit easier to deal with.' He glanced at the Alicorn sat next to him. 'Don't worry about me, okay? Worry about the poor bastards who've got to face this ODST sitting in sixty-six tons of HE spewing divine intervention.' Celestia let out a small laugh then shook her head.

'I still don't know how you can be so willing to kill another living creature. Even after spending so much time here.' Now Fletcher shook his head.

'Some things will never change about me. Just be glad I'm on your side.' He glanced at the clock on his armour. 'Now I need to get out of the city and back to Shelia before sunrise.' Celestia took the hint and disappeared back into the cube, leaving the human by himself once again. He picked up the crystal and stared into it's depths. The rainbow hue was once again in place and with greater intensity.

'Full house.' He mused and placed it back into it's compartment. Fletcher barely thought of anything as he made his way back to Shelia. The possibility of being by himself for months, even years was a daunting prospect. He'd have no one to report to, no orders to receive, nothing resembling the chain of command. He was alone. And outnumbered. These two thoughts continued to go through his head as he climbed into Shelia and set off south to his new found base.

'Mom! Dad! I was so worried about you!' Twilight dragged both her parents into a hug, gripping them tightly. They responded in kind and made room for Shining Armour to join them.

'We were so worried about you two as well.' Night Light told them as the hug fell apart. 'When we heard Ponyville had been attacked and then that a green metal monster showed up and destroyed the town hall we feared the worst. Not to mention Baltimare being overrun.'

'Well, we have Michael to thank for that. If it wasn't for him none of us would be here.' Celestia appeared in a flash next to them, wavering slightly. 'How's Michael?'

'He is okay, Twilight. Don't worry about him.' She made sure that everypony was fine before heading to her house with Luna. Once inside she let out a shuddering breath and collapsed on a nearby couch. Luna was by her side instantly.

'Tia, what's wrong? Are you in pain?' The younger Alicorn draped a wing over her sister, waiting for an answer.

'I-I failed Luna.' Celestia said, a few tears starting to form.

'No, Tia. You didn't fail. The griffins caught us by surprise.' She nuzzled her and levitated a box of tissues over. Celestia took one and wiped her eye but more tears followed. 'And you still looked out for your subjects when the griffins attacked Canterlot.'

'But if I had been doing my job correctly it would have never happened.' Celestia said flatly. Luna shook her head.

'You did it wonderfully, just like you have done for over a thousand years. But things do happen which are beyond what we think we can handle.' Luna shifted where she was sat. 'Like when I was taken over by Nightmare Moon.' She lowered her head at the memory of that fateful day when she had tried to overthrow Celestia and her banishment to the moon.

'Luna, that's not the same. You became Nightmare Moon because of that piece of star metal, not because you wanted to. We all harbour darkness in us. That metal merely took advantage of the resentment you felt and amplified it.' Now Celestia offered her sister a tissue. 'Luna, everything that is happening to Equestria is my fault and mine alone. I failed to notice what the griffins were up to. I failed to equip our soldiers with the tools needed to repel the griffins. I failed.' Her admittance of failure final brought on the tears she had been fighting back since Canterlot had first fallen and her near public execution. But she didn't make a sound, merely allowing the tears to flow. Luna withdrew her wing and held her sister in her hooves, letting her own tears fall as well.

Fletcher grunted in annoyance as over fifty griffins swarmed round Shelia, claws and swords at the ready. He eased off of the acceleration yoke and brought her to a stop. When all of the griffins had given up trying to break through they backed off. Now Fletcher swivelled the turret, firing as he did so. Griffins were blown from their feet as the .30 calibre rounds tore into them. At least half were killed by the time they decided it would be a good idea to flee. He let them go and carried on towards his target of a small munitions factory that produced shot for the cannons they used. It was the third one he'd attacked this week and the eighth overall. Slowly, and surely, he would cripple the griffin army before paying a visit to the new Queen of the Griffin Kingdom and deliver her an ultimatum. Suffer more surprise attacks from him and Shelia or withdraw all her troops from Equestrian lands and grovel for forgiveness. The tank lurched as another shell was launched downrange and smashed into the roof of the factory. Rubble rained down as Fletcher swivelled the turret slightly to the left.

The sun began to grow in intensity, signalling to all inside the cube it was morning. Twilight stretched and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her head felt terrible and her throat was incredibly dry. She needed water. With a groan she staggered out of bed and down into the kitchen. It was a mess with chairs and spilt drinks everywhere. The unicorn moaned and hung her head as last night returned to her in bits and pieces. They had all been enjoying a party thrown by Pinkie when Rainbow Dash had suggested having some drinks to celebrate one week of being inside the cube all together. They had all readily agreed, leading Applejack to produce some cider she had soon they were all drinking and singing quite loudly. At least Twilight thought so. Everything had gotten blurry after her fifth or seventh bottle. She did remember making her way home and suggesting making some kind of snack to a giggling Big Mac. But she was sceptical on how and when she'd managed to get back to bed. A loud thump from upstairs announced Big Mac was awake. He appeared, grimacing at the light and a headache as he righted a chair and sagged into it.

'Ah feel like mah head is about to crack.' Twilight said nothing but sat down opposite him, holding her head in her hooves. 'Why did Miss Rainbow Dash have to suggest alcohol?'

'Because she loves it?' Twilight offered. 'Do you remember much from last night?'

'Eeyup.' Big Mac slowly massaged his temples. 'Ah remember ya wanted to have a pancake or something so we tried to make one.' He gestured to the chairs and mess. 'Ah reckon we weren't successful.' Twilight groaned in response. Now they had to clean it up. With murderous hangovers. They both let out a groan at the idea.

Two hours, and several rest stops later, the two ponies sat down and gave a sigh of relief. It was done. They could rest. Big Mac began to snore slightly. They could sleep. Twilight dragged a blanket over and threw it across the two of them. She leaned against Big Mac and let her eyes slowly drift closed. She was asleep thirty seconds later.

There was a muted crack and another griffin fell, dead. Fletcher shifted his aim and fired again, scoring another headshot and a collateral kill as the bullet continued through the first griffin and struck a second in the chest. He smiled faintly as the griffins scrambled for cover from the unseen attacker. A few even hid behind wooden barricades. The thin planks did nothing more than delay their death by a fraction of a second as the 14.5mm rounds tore through the wood and then bone. Brass shells clinked together as Fletcher reloaded and resumed firing. To his left were ten full magazines. To his right were six empty ones. And in front of him was a griffin military training camp, just over one and a half kilometres distant. He had been watching it for three days now, waiting for the best time to start the attack. Then it had started to rain. A surprise attack using the cover of darkness and rain had thrown the camp into chaos with most of those in command being killed first. Fletcher fired until he was out of ammunition, placing the sniper rifle onto his back and jogging to Shelia. He removed the weapon and stowed it in a special compartment and climbed in. Now that most of the ones in charge were dead, he could finish the job and erase the camp from the map for good. The tank came to life as he gently eased her from the hiding place and headed out for the weakened camp. It was too easy fighting the griffins in Shelia. Nothing came close to even scratching or stopping her. The amount of blockades they had smashed though was incredible.

The last shell ripped through the tent's outer layer and detonated inside, blowing the fabric away and killing anyone who was unfortunate enough to have taken refuge in it. Fletcher tried to grin but found he lacked the drive to do so. It was just another in a long line of camps and buildings he had wiped out since falling back to the cache weeks ago. Each one was the same. Arrive in Shelia and begin firing at it then escaping and returning for rearmament and refuelling, then repeat it all over again. Nothing ever changed. He was becoming bored and he needed to do something fun and dangerous. Sitting in a tank wasn't even close to dangerous when your enemy carried only swords. Fletcher's mind drifted to the griffin capital and their queen. He hadn't paid her a visit to let her know of the threat he posed. Somewhere inside the camp a small fire started and quickly spread. Well, maybe reiterate how much of a threat he posed. News of Fletcher's spree must have made it back to griffin high command. Now he grinned. Maybe this little trip he was planning could confirm it.

Twilight awoke with a start, panting and shaking uncontrollably. She shivered and wrapped herself in a hug and rocked back and forth. Her dreams had been nightmares. Nightmares from when she'd been attacked by griffins. The unicorn shivered again and lay back down. Beside her Big Mac was sleeping peacefully, snoring ever so slightly. Twilight briefly considered waking him up but decided against it. He looked so content lying there. She kissed him on the forehead and pulled the duvet back over them, trying to get back to sleep. She had fallen asleep at about nine at night, exhausted after helping Applejack make some cider. But now it was three in the morning and she was wide awake. Flashes of the three griffins who had beaten her, laughing as they did, appeared whenever she closed her eyes. Then the feeling that she was dying as she lay there, waiting for somepony to rescue her and then the anguish and torment when she had seen the look on Big Mac's face when he'd told her they'd lost the foal. Tears formed in her eyes. Twilight fought them back but it was in vain and soon they streamed down her face. She was about the wake Big Mac up when he pulled her close and held her.

'Ah'm here, Twi. Ah'm here.' The stallion continued to try and soothe her as she wept.

Fletcher drew his knife as he approached two sleeping guards, slitting their throats and letting them choke on their own blood. He swapped the knife for his rifle and made his way into the city. It hadn't changed much since the last time. Everywhere was still grimy, even in the darkness of night. There were no griffins on any of the streets, each house firmly locked and shrouded in shadows. It unsettled him. Even in times of war, people would be going about their lives at night. Fletcher made sure his weapon was loaded and the safety off as he continued on to the castle. The queen was about to get a rude wake up call.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Nine

Fletcher crawled to the edge of the roof, counting over a dozen griffins in the street below. They didn't seem to be doing anything, just standing or leaning and doing absolutely nothing to Fletcher's eye. He briefly considered dropping a live grenade into their midst but decided against it. He needed to avoid detection. Two dead guards would certainly raise suspicion, yet they could be easily explained as a rouge griffin or a lone pony. A grenade, however, was like sending up a flare. He was the only thing on this planet, as far as he knew, that used that type of weapon and security around the queen would be increased. Fletcher crawled away from the edge and carried on towards the castle.

It was ridiculously easy. All of the griffins he had seen so far were either drunk or too lazy to actually do their jobs correctly. If this had been Equestria, or had he been in charge, they would have been constantly moving on random paths as they scanned both sides of the streets for trouble. But these griffins were pitiful. Fletcher shook his head to clear it of the distraction and finally made it to the base of the wall. It was the same segment as the previous two times and there were still the same cracks that had served as hand and foot holds before. Hell, even the window was still unlocked. This was ridiculously easy for the human. And it made him a little nervous. The griffins had to know of him, especially after he'd carved a path through the castle and the city twice, and must have had some idea of how he'd gained access. But no, nothing had been changed. Fletcher drew his pistol, knowing the rifle would be too unwieldy for the corridors ahead. The VISR function painted the room in it's characteristic glow. The door creaked open as Fletcher gently edged his head through the small gap and checked for hostiles. There were none. He nodded to himself and stepped into the hallway, deciding which way to go first. He shrugged and went left.

'I am a warrior and this is my song.' Fletcher sang softly to himself as he explored, his head bobbing in tune with the beat that went with the song. It had been an hour and the human hadn't found anything of value, or the queen, in any of the lower floors. Now it was time to head upstairs. He finished the chorus and moved onto the next verse.

The top floors offered more promising results. There were multiple locked rooms and many, after Fletcher had broken into them quietly, contained everything from progress reports on various weapons to battle plans. Fletcher scanned all of them onto his armour or folded them into his rucksack to look over later. Now he moved on to the last floor of the castle he hadn't set foot onto yet. As soon as stepped onto it, he knew the queen would be here. For starters the floor was carpeted in thick red velvet, a change from the polished wooden floors below. Add to that the numerous paintings depicting rulers of the past and two large ornate double doors at the end of the corridor. And there were two guards standing outside them.

'I am a Devil Dog, I'm marching on.' Fletcher raised his pistol and took careful aim. He fired twice and downed the two guards with a single headshot each. They fell with a barely audible thump onto the thick carpet. He crouched over to them and fired once more into both to make sure they were actually dead. Blood seeped from their wounds into the carpet, barely noticeable in the darkness. Fletcher turned away from the corpses and tried the door. It was unlocked. The human cast one last look back along the corridor before opening the wooden door and slipped inside.

If the corridor outside had been lavish with it's paintings and thick carpet, the room Fletcher stood in was over indulgence on a massive scale. His feet sank nearly a full two inches before they hit anything reasonably solid. Silk tapestries hung from every wall and thick satin curtains flanked two ornate windows. The walls were panelled in polished wood, what little he could see, and a thick nauseating scent filled the air which Fletcher pegged as incense or perfume. He gagged at the smell and closed down his filters, letting the internal air supply kick in. But it was the bed that drew his attention. It was massive, at least as big as a Warthog, and draped with more satin curtains. In it was a lone figure. The queen of the Griffin Kingdom. Fletcher edged closer, brandishing his knife, and drawing the curtains away to reveal the prone figure. She was sleeping on her side and snoring lightly. The human reached over and gently pulled her onto her back then clamped his hand over mouth and held the blade close to her throat. She awoke immediately and tried to throw the hand and knife away but Fletcher maintained his grip. The griffin eventually sank back and watched him.

'I have a knife to your throat. Make any stupid decisions you get a new hole to breathe through. Nod if you understand me.' She nodded. 'Good. Do you know who I am? And what I'm capable of doing?' Another nod. 'Great. Now I bet you think I'm here to kill you. That's not true. I've received no such orders. Instead I'm here to deliver a warning. You have two options. Option one is to continue your military occupation of Equestria at the cost of men and materials as I wage a war of attrition on you, your people and your land. Then there's option two.

'Retreat back to pre-war lines and begin grovelling for forgiveness so I don't decide to wipe you from existence one limb at a time.' He dug the blade in a little deeper, drawing blood. 'Nod if you understand.' She did after a long second. 'Glad we understand each other. Now I'm going to knock you out, nothing serious. But I don't want to get anymore of your guards blood on that lovely carpet of yours.' Her eyes widened as Fletcher removed the knife and covered up her nostrils as well. She writhed and tried to get the human off but eventually succumbed and fell unconscious. Fletcher removed his hands and sheathed his knife. Now came the fun part of escaping the castle and the city without getting too much attention. He started towards the door but stopped when a new thought occurred. Her drew his knife again and carved a message into them. Wood chips fell to the floor as the words _I'm watching _slowly appeared. Fletcher sheathed the knife once more and drew his pistol, stepping past the still lifeless corpses and back onto firmer carpets.

'This is very bad.' Fletcher shouted to himself as he ran through the streets of Griffonia. Behind over thirty griffins were chasing him, some in the air but most on the ground. Fletcher had no idea how they knew he was here, unless someone had checked up on the queen to find her guards dead and her unconscious. All that he knew was the entire city had been alerted to his presence and seemed to be chasing him. He sprinted to the right into a side street then left down an alley. The sound of his pursuers dropped off momentarily then resumed as they found him again. Fletcher swore and dropped a primed grenade. It bounced once then settled, detonating just as the crowd reached it. It took down the front few griffins but the vast majority survived and continued. He swore again and ran out onto the main street again. If he could get to the city gates and into the surrounding countryside he knew he could escape back to the cache. But he had no such luck. He rounded one final corner and came face to face with another thirty griffins which blocked all his exits. Behind him the original pursuers caught up and prevented any escape that way. Fletcher drew his rifle and alternated between aiming at one group then the next. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as neither one moved. Then one of the griffins flexed his wings and flew straight for the human. Fletcher raised his rifle and opened fire as the rest followed suit.

Celestia silently flicked through the books around her, trying to find one to read that would occupy her mind but it was futile. She'd read each and every single one at least twice. The Alicorn sighed and put them down. It had been close to two months since Michael had saved her and Luna from being executed. She occasionally had nightmares about it, only he wasn't there to save them and she was the one executing her sister. Celestia had woken up plenty of times in the night, shaking and fearing she had actually killed her sister. But each time she would look to where Luna lay and breathe a sigh of relief before trying to get back to sleep. It was often difficult with flashes from the dream appearing once again in her mind. Sometimes Celestia even considered her and Luna sharing a bed to know she was alright, but always banished the thought from her head. They hadn't shared a bed in millennia, not since they had been foals themselves. Celestia smiled a little over those memories as she stood, her legs once again fully healed. Neither she nor Luna had suffered permanent damage or scarring from the whipping and their coats had grown back as well. Twilight and the others had been worried when they'd first seen the wounds, insisting they been treated as soon as possible. Both Alicorns had declined. Now the pain was merely a bad memory.

Outside it was a sunny day, a gentle breeze rolling across the fields that made up the cube. Celestia felt it tug at her mane as she walked through the town, not really sure where she was going or why. But at least it was something. Despite all of the books in both her library and Twilight Sparkle's, Celestia was bored. She missed the little details of Canterlot, one pony showing her a lengthy presentation on population growth whilst another would inform her of agricultural matters. It had all seemed so tedious and trivial at the time but after being separated from it for so long the Alicorn found herself wanting nothing more than to listen to another of those long speeches. Life in the cube was monotonous. Wake in the morning and do anything until it was time for sleep. Then it would start all over again. Celestia briefly wondered how long it would be before everypony began to develop cabin fever or go stir crazy. Not to mention she and Luna would have to eventually leave the cube to regain control of the sun and the moon. If left unchecked they could go rampant and eventually drift out of alignment, bringing about catastrophe on the planet. She shivered at the idea. Behind her the sound of hooves on cobbles announced Celestia had a companion.

'Princess Celestia, good morning.' The Alicorn smiled at the voice.

'Good morning my faithful student.' She responded, turning to see Twilight walk towards her. 'Did you sleep well last night?' A hint of sadness flickered over her student's face.

'I did and I didn't.'

'Bad dreams?' Celestia asked. Twilight nodded. 'We all have them at some point.' She thought back to her nightmares, seeing Luna's severed head roll away from her, screaming she had failed.

'Yeah. But it was more like reliving a bad moment in my life.'

'The griffins?' Twilight nodded again, sadly this time.

'It-it's just so vivid. I could feel every kick, every claw. And then I'm at the hospital, looking at Big Mac as he says we-we lost...' She trailed off, fighting back tears. Celestia led her to the porch of Rarity's house and sat her down. Twilight let out of slow breath. 'I know the doctors said we could have another but-but it wouldn't be the same.' She let a few tears roll down.

'I know losing a child is hard to deal with, Twilight, and that the pain never truly goes away. But you have a loving fiancée and a wondrous group of friends to support you.' Celestia nuzzled the weeping mare. 'You don't have to suffer alone.'

'I-I know. But it's not just that. I have Michael to thank for rescuing me not just once, but four times. Not to mention he's risking his life right now to protect us from the griffins and what are we doing? Sleeping soundly at night surrounded by people we love, eating food we like and partying. I feel so guilty.' She stood. 'I'm an Element of Harmony and what have I done recently to defend Equestria? Wipe out that Gravemind thing from space whilst Michael risked his life to make it possible! And since then I've done nothing whilst he's once again risking his life for us, for everypony else and for what?' Twilight stared at her mentor, demanding an explanation. Celestia thought it over, trying to think of a possible reason but was unable to. Michael wasn't paid like the other Royal Guards, he had no family to look after nor was he looking to start one. He wasn't even a native to Equestria and yet he fought for it.

'I don't know, Twilight. He does it without asking for a reward.' Twilight sagged and sat down.

'So not only does he risk his life for ours, he doesn't get anything in return. Now I feel a lot better.' She muttered darkly.

'We offer him shelter.' Celestia countered. 'We took him in willingly when he was tied to Equestria and to you, asking that he serve as an Agent of Equestria to defend us from those who wish harm against us.'

'It's not like he can't survive on his own. He's doing that right now, you know. Surviving, without us.' Twilight sighed. 'I feel so useless.'

'Twilight, what he does is more dangerous than what you and your friends have faced before. Even with the aid of the Elements you would fall.' Celestia told her, trying to comfort her. It didn't work.

'More dangerous than Nightmare Moon or Discord? They both had incredibly powerful capabilities and could have gotten rid of us at any point!' Twilight said, her voice growing louder. 'He's fighting griffins armed with swords whilst he has those weapons of his. What can he do that me and the girls can't?'

'Kill another creature.' Celestia said quietly. 'You and the others aren't killers, nor are you fighters. But Michael is.' She motioned for Twilight to sit back down. 'He is bred for combat, built for war and he fights for us. I never believed there existed a creature that could so callously end another one's life, not even a griffin, until I met him and read over his reports from the field.'

'But if he's fighting because we're at war with the griffins, couldn't we use the Elements to change the minds of those in charge?' Twilight asked.

'No. The Elements only work against those who pose a threat to the harmony Equestria has. Discord and Nightmare Moon both posed that threat, as did the Gravemind, and by using the Elements you and your friends could remove the danger. But it was only because they would upset the balance of life if allowed to continue existing. The griffins pose no such threat.' The Alicorn paused, trying to think how best to explain it. 'If they were to conquer us, then there would be no change to the balance. Both species would live normal lives, albeit under different rulers, but normal nonetheless. The griffins attacked us by choice, not design.'

'So the Elements are useless.' Twilight said, somewhat despondent.

'In this case yes. But there will be a time when Michael isn't able to use his weapons to overcome a threat because it isn't attacking by choice, but design. Then you, and the girls, will be able to do something to defend Equestria.'

'But until then we can't do anything.' The unicorn stated as she sat down next to her mentor, looking miserable.

'Yes.' Celestia looked down at the floor. 'I feel just as useless as you do Twilight. If not more so.'

'Why?' Twilight's look changed to confusion. 'You helped decide where our soldiers went. You had a role in defending Equestria. I didn't.'

'But Equestria still fell. Canterlot was captured and now most of our forces are either captured or too wounded to fight according to Michael.' Celestia shook her head. 'I failed as ruler and now my subjects are paying for it.'

'It could have been worse.' Twilight said. 'You could have given up at the first battle between us and the griffins. But you didn't. You stayed strong and tried your best.' The unicorn smiled a little at her mentor, hoping to get one in return. She didn't.

'But I didn't stay strong. Once the griffins breached the throne room and said they had you and the rest of the Elements I was given two choices. Submit without resistance or they would have killed you. I didn't know where Michael was, how far away he was or when he would be back. So Luna and I allowed ourselves to be taken prisoner to save you.' Celestia grimaced at the memory. 'When I was being whipped I could think of nothing else but shame at myself for allowing such a thing to happen. And when we had our heads placed on the blocks I felt afraid for you and everypony else.' She went quiet. 'I had only the word of the griffins to go on and that is suspect at the best of times.' Twilight said nothing in response, unable to offer anything comforting.

**Additional AN: The song Fletcher is singing is called 'The Warrior Song – Hard Corps' by Sean Householder. It's a brilliant song. And there may be more time between updates. I've hit a brick wall with Grudges, more with what goes into the chapters than the plot. So if it's a few days before the next chapter is up, you know why.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Ten

They corralled him into a dead end, all seventeen of them brandishing swords or maces and all wearing looks of pure hatred. Fletcher glared back at them through a cracked face plate, knife in one hand and a final grenade in the other. His last two weapons. The rifle had been bent under the impact of a mace and his pistol was out of ammo. Then his grenades had all been thrown barring the one in his hand, but that would soon be used to delay the inevitable. The griffins had him outnumbered, outgunned, had the tactical advantage of flight and of being on familiar territory. He didn't have shit to fight with. Hell, they were even in peak physical health. Fletcher meanwhile was battered and bruised after fighting off nearly forty of their soldiers with a mixture of bullets, grenades and hand to hand combat. His armour was dented on every surface and the camouflage system had failed completely. Add to that the electronic suite in the helmet was malfunctioning; his suit was only just in better condition than him. One moved forward slightly. Fletcher raised the knife and his thumb hovered over the activation button on his last grenade.

'I'm ready. How about you?' he yelled at the griffins. They knew he wouldn't go down easily. He'd just killed over two dozen of them and wounded the rest. But they had orders to capture him and bring him before the queen. Only the human wasn't cooperating and they had lost plenty of good soldiers cornering him. They took another step closer, forcing Fletcher to take another back. A few more and he'd have his back to the wall. To either side were steep walls with no handholds, not that he could have used them. The moment he turned his back the griffins would be on him. So he stood his ground, fighting until he had no more fight in him. He had to. The griffins took another step forward and Fletcher felt his foot strike something unrelenting. Now he was cornered.

'Just come quietly and we'll go easy on you.' A griffin offered.

'Yeah right.' Fletcher primed the grenade and threw it, waiting two seconds then followed it to the waiting griffins. The small device exploded, shrapnel tearing through the soldiers and Fletcher barely registered some breaking through the armour on his arm. He yelled as he closed the gap and held his knife high, bringing it down on one griffin's shoulder. It yelled in pain as he friends grabbed the human and threw him away. Fletcher got up again and charged at the nearest, scoring a hit in the chest this time. He yanked the weapon out just as two claws wrapped themselves round his shoulders and pulled him into the air. He struggled as they rose higher then flailed as he was dropped face first from ten or so metres. The faceplate final smashed and was rendered useless. But before he could regain his senses another griffin drew him up into the air and threw him into a wall. Fletcher thought he felt something snap as he fell down again and landed with a solid thump on the ground. He ignored the growing pain from what felt like everywhere and staggered to his feet. The remaining griffins circled him, dragging their claws on the cobbles, and began to close in. The lone human raised the knife in a shaking hand and shifted his attention from one griffin to the next. He was beaten. They knew it, he knew it, but he wouldn't accept it. So long as he was awake and standing he wouldn't submit. But he wouldn't be standing for much longer. Even now his vision was hazy and his body screamed for rest. The knife wavered as the griffins launched one final attack. Fletcher yelled, as did they, and plunged the knife into the nearest mass of feathers.

The human sagged in his restraints as the surviving griffin soldiers carried him towards the castle. He had taken down a further four of them before a lucky soldier managed to hit him across the back of the head with a club and dazed him long enough for the others to beat him to the ground. Fletcher had tried to fight back but his body didn't respond, not even when they had bound his hands and feet together. It was a struggle to keep awake but even then he wasn't sure he managed it. There were periods of blackness interspersed with vibrant, confusing noises as he was paraded through the city and eventually dumped onto his back inside a blood red room and his restraints released. It seemed familiar but he couldn't place it.

'So, you are the ones who finally took it down?' a voice asked. It sounded important and held authority. Fletcher flexed his muscles, trying to get any kind of response.

'Yes. We cornered and overpowered it.' another responded. 'Put up a hell of a fight. Took fifty of us down but we got it.' Fletcher vaguely registered a kick to his side.

'Thank you for bringing it here. Speak to your captain; he will have a reward for you.'

'Yes, your majesty.' The second voice left along with a few others judging from the amount of claws that struck the cold floor. Fletcher ignored them and focussed on moving his body. Hardly anything moved and those few parts which did were either sluggish or the movement sent waves of pain coursing throughout him. A shadow loomed over the human and he struggled to bring its owner into view. The figure was blurry.

'We meet again.' It said. This was the first voice he'd heard after being brought into the room. 'But unlike last time I'm the one in control.' Fletcher tried to focus and another griffin, a female with heavy makeup, came into view. She seemed familiar but, like the room, he couldn't place her.

'I have a few questions for you. Answer them and we'll get along just fine.' She paused, giving him time to process it. 'Nod if you understand.' Fletcher gave a nearly imperceptible nod. 'That's what I like to see. Cooperation.' She leaned down and placed a claw of Fletcher's head, tilting it one way then the next. 'Such a remarkable specimen. So puny looking, yet you have caused so much destruction today. And what fascinating armour.' She trailed a talon along one of the plates. 'Able to let you blend into the surrounding scenery. Far beyond anything we or the Equestrians can produce so I'm guessing you aren't local.' Fletcher said nothing, more because his mind was screaming three different things at once in garbled tongues than because the griffin was the enemy.

'Where exactly are you from, creature?' She peered past the shattered faceplate and into his eyes. Hers were cold and black.

'Far. Far away.' Fletcher croaked. He coughed a little, tasting blood.

'I don't suppose you know where the princesses are, do you?'

'No.' Fletcher lied. 'They just left me to fight.' His voice was a wheeze, his body calling out for water.

'They left you?' He nodded. 'How cowardly.' She stood and brought a small stool over to sit on. 'If it had been me I would have stayed to the bitter end. But then, we griffins are a proud and noble race of warriors. Not some pompous ponies who think everyone can get along.' The griffin thought of something else. 'Why do you, a remorseless and skilled warrior, fight for them? They offer you nothing at all. No power, no influence. So why?'

'Because.' He replied.

'Because what?'

'Just because.' Fletcher's voice was fading. He badly needed a drink. 'Water?' He asked.

'Later. For now just yes or no questions.' Fletcher nodded. 'So you don't know where the princesses are?' A shake of the head. 'Could you guess? Another negative. 'If you did know, would you tell us?'

'No.' The human rasped. His throat was starting to hurt now, along with a burning sensation coming from his right arm and several places along one leg. Broken bones or other injuries? The griffin sighed and called for some water. A servant appeared moments later carrying a pitcher. He placed it on a small table and left.

'It is only because you are a warrior of such accomplishment and skill that we're not throwing you into the dungeon to rot right now.' The griffin explained as she poured a small amount into Fletcher's mouth. He drank it down greedily with each splash. It was like a new lease of life, jarring his mind back into place. Now he recognised where he was and who was keeping him company. He was in the throne room with the griffin queen.

'Thanks.' His voice was beginning to sound back to normal, about the only thing that was. Everything else was in pain or numb. 'What are you going to do to me?'

'Keep you prisoner.' The queen told him. 'Technically you're a prisoner of war and under griffin rules we can lock you away until the end of the conflict.'

'Oh.' Fletcher nodded to himself. 'Sounds reasonable.'

'We're locking you away in our dungeons and all you can say is that it sounds reasonable?'

'Yes.' The human felt his body cry out for sleep. 'We would have done the same in Canterlot if we caught one of your men there.' He shifted on his position on the floor.

'I see.' She called for two servants to take the prisoner down to the dungeons and place him into a cell by himself.

Fletcher had been dumped inside the cell for a few days by now, receiving a bowl of something resembling food every few hours along with some water. It wasn't exactly small, but it wasn't big either. He had a mattress to sleep on, a small window to see out of and a thick wooden door to keep him in. Thankfully the griffins had allowed him to keep his armour on, seeing as they couldn't even come close to understanding it and it was broken. So Fletcher kept it on, removing only the panels necessary to check for damage to himself. He counted over fifteen separate bruises from the fights and one dislocated toe. The human popped it back in with a grunt and a wince before moving onto his right arm. It burned and throbbed with a trickle of blood seeping out of a small hole. Underneath was an angry red wound that had been caused by the final grenade exploding. Fletcher grimaced as he gently probed along the back of his arm, feeling for an exit wound. He found a small lump that was discoloured and swollen slightly. The shrapnel was still inside. Now his grimace became a look of dismay as he realised he had to get it out. The human reached for one of the shattered pieces of his faceplate and dug in to the flesh just over the foreign body. A gasp of pain escaped his lips as more blood flowed down his arm. With a final wince he squeezed the edges of the newly opened wound and tried to push the fragment out. It moved agonisingly slowly and Fletcher nearly lost his grip three times from all the blood pouring out. Then finally it popped out and fell to the floor. Fletcher breathed a sigh of relief then examined the two wounds on his arm in more detail. Both seemed clean and would heal with time, but he was more concerned with the muscle. The shrapnel had torn right through it; narrowly missing the bone, then came to a stop just under his skin. A quick flex of his arm revealed it was still working, just a little shaky and aching, along with the rest of his body from the sheer exhaustion of fighting off and being beaten by nearly five dozen griffins. He needed rest before he would be fully healed. Fletcher shrugged and began reassembling the plating of his armour to do what he did best. Wait.

The days turned into weeks, then into months. All the while Fletcher just sat in his cell, waiting. For what, he didn't know. An end to the conflict maybe. Or he was just destined to rot here forever. At least the food was okay. To begin with he was given slop but after three weeks of good behaviour he'd been upgraded to poor quality cooked meat and from there he'd received only better and better meals. Why, he didn't know or care. He was just thankful for it. Occasionally he would be taken to another room for questioning, usually twice a month, and asked the same questions. No, he didn't know where the princesses had fled to. No, he didn't have a clue where they may have gone. No, he wouldn't tell them if he did know. Each time he was returned to his cell until the next time when it would start all over again.

Fletcher was sat in his cell checking over his arm when it happened. At first it was merely raised voices coming from somewhere behind his door. Then it changed into shouts and the clashing of swords. The human merely stood, placing the broken helmet on his head as he waited for whatever was heading this way. He mentally checked over his body. It was rested and the wound on his arm had fully healed with minimal scarring. Everything felt fine and he was combat ready. The sounds of battle grew closer and culminated with a body being launched into the cell's door. It opened shortly afterwards to reveal an armoured unicorn holding two swords in his magic, stepping over lifeless body of a griffin.

'Sir Fletcher?' he asked.

'That's me.' Fletcher reached for one of the swords, ignoring the feeling of static as his hand entered the magical field containing the weapon. 'Took you long enough.'

'Thing are a little hectic. And this isn't a full attack. There's me and two others who were sent to free you.' The unicorn said. Then he held out his hoof. Fletcher shook it. 'Blazing Saddles, Knight of Equestria.'

'Michael Fletcher. What's our escape plan?' Saddles led him out of the cell and into a corridor filled with griffin corpses and two unicorns. They nodded at Saddles and Fletcher.

'Now that we've made it to you we can teleport out of here and to-' Before Saddles could continue Fletcher cut him off.

'I can't teleport. I would die if I did.' The unicorns gave him a curious look. 'Not a native. No natural magic.'

'Ah.' Saddles said. 'So what do you propose instead?' The human shrugged.

'Don't know about you but I'm walking out.'

'By yourself?' one of the two other unicorns asked, not believing him.

'Yep.' Fletcher answered. 'No other way for me to do it. You guys can beam on out of here if you want.' As if to prove his point Fletcher gave the sword a few more practise swings and began walking to the exit. 'I have a city to break free of.'

'But we have orders to escort you to safety!' Saddles yelled. 'Orders directly from my commanding officer.' Fletcher stopped and turned to face the unicorn, holding up a medallion.

'See this? It means I'm an Agent. And see this?' He pointed to his face, a look of indifference on it. 'This means I don't care what orders you have or who gave them. I have more authority than your commander. Besides, four is easier to find than one.' The three ponies dipped their heads at this.

'Very well.' Saddles sighed. 'But when you do escape, please head back to Ponyville as soon as possible. It's turned into our new base of operations ready for the push into Canterlot.'

'Got it. Ponyville ASAP. Now go. I'll see you in a few weeks at least.' The three unicorns nodded then disappeared in bright flashes as they teleported to safety. Now alone, the human made his way up and out of the dungeons and into the bright light of the outside world for the first time in months. He grimaced and missed the protection his faceplate had given him for so long. Fletcher checked the area was clear before stepping into the courtyard, sword at the ready.

Just another hundred yards and he would be home free. Fletcher crouched low and waited for the two griffins to pass before busting from his hiding spot and stabbing the first with his sword. The second one barely managed to let out a low scream when Fletcher kicked out and smashed his foot into its throat. The griffin gasped for air as the human pulled the bloodied sword out of the now dead griffin and brought it down on the second. Now free to escape Fletcher left the two corpses and headed straight for the tree line and didn't stop until his lungs were on fire and he collapsed against a tree. He was out and free! A low laugh escaped his lips until he was clutching his sides. Eventually his laughs subsided and Fletcher got to his feet, trying to remember where he'd parked Shelia. Without his helmet to give him directions, the human was lost.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Eleven

For three days Fletcher fought his way through the forest, heading in a vaguely western direction and following a small river he thought he'd parked Shelia next to all those months ago. With any luck he'd find her and get back to the cache to rearm and resupply. With only a sword and his broken armour the human would be in trouble if he ran into a griffin patrol. But it seemed like luck was on his side today as he spotted a small group of trees that had been pushed aside by some big and heavy. Something like Shelia. Fletcher grinned as he followed the unnatural path deeper into the woods.

'So what do you think it is?' Fletcher froze at the sound.

'No idea. But it probably belongs to that warrior we captured a few months back.' Fletcher resumed following the twin tracks until he entered a small clearing he vaguely remember parking the tank in months ago. And there she was, slightly covered in leaves and moss right where he'd left her. But Shelia wasn't alone. Half a dozen griffins were prodding the various surfaces as they inspected their find.

'Shit.' Fletcher muttered to himself. He sighed and readied his sword, edging closer until he was nearly out of the tree line. Two griffins were perched on top of the tank, inspecting the optical package whilst the remaining four tried to open the main hatch and get inside.

'How the hell do you get into this thing?' one asked.

'If I knew, do you think we'd be out here discussing it?' another shot back. His friend shook his head. 'Then shut up and keep trying!' They eventually dissolved into an argument over how to open it, distracting them long enough for the human to sneak closer and raise his sword. One of the griffins noticed him but it was too late. Fletcher brought the sword down on the closest griffin and dug the blade deep into it's shoulder. Blood flowed freely as the griffin yelled in pain and wrestled to free the blade. Fletcher withdrew it and pierced his chest. The griffin collapsed as the remaining five converged on him from every angle. The human ducked under one swing from a claw and raised his sword to block a second. The appendage was severed from its owner ad landed with a bloody splat as a head soon followed. Now down to four, the remaining griffins spread out so they were just out of the sword's reach. When Fletcher lashed at one it would dart back and allow the one behind him to strike with its claws. The impacts would knock him balance briefly and another hit would be made until the sword was raised again. It went like this for several minutes until after lashing out at one, Fletcher reversed the sword and impaled the griffin attacking from behind.

'Tough luck, fucktard.' He taunted as the griffin gasped for air, the sword having punctured a lung. With a final breath it slumped to the floor.

'Next?' Fletcher asked as he brought the sword back into position. The three griffins looked at each other then charged at the lone figure. 'Thought so.' Fletcher swung out at the first, gouging a fatal wound in the chest then rolled to the floor as a second griffin tackled him. He managed to land without snapping the blade and as he landed he head butted the griffin behind him and using the momentary reduction in the assailant's grip he bolted upright, breaking free of the talons. Using his new found freedom Fletcher reversed his grip on the sword and brought it down into the dazed griffin's stomach. He left it there and stood, fists raised in a combat stance to face the last griffin.

'Your choice, bird. Stand and fight then die, or flee and live to die another day.' They eyed each other as they circled, neither one wanted to make the first move, but neither backed down. Eventually the griffin made a move and lunged for Fletcher. The human lunged as well, wrapping his arms round the soldier. They collided and slammed down onto the floor, Fletcher on top. He released his grip and began pummelling the griffin and continued until blood pooled from the head. Breathing heavily, Fletcher rose and gave the now dead griffin a final kick before making his way to Shelia, grinning broadly as he opened the main hatch. The familiar clunk as it closed above him was both reassuring and sorely missed.

'Now let's get you home.' Fletcher murmured as he began the start up sequence. With a groan and a worrying clatter the Scorpion came to life and highlighted the location of the cache. The clatter soon went away as the tank rumbled forward and sped off to what was effectively the human's stronghold and home. It would be good to be back again.

The shelter emerged with the usual flurry of dirt and grass as it presented the twin doors to the waiting tank. They opened and Shelia was eased inside, stopping on her usual pedestal as various tubes and tools probed her surface, repairing and cleaning the outer shell. Fletcher meanwhile had dismounted and was now stripping his broken armour off for the first time in literally months. It felt good, but not nearly as good as the shower and sleep that followed.

Bleary eyed, hungry and grumpy, Fletcher groaned as he rolled out of the cot and made his way to a flashing light that had rudely woken him from his sleep. He swore as his hand missed it the first time but eventually the siren was silenced.

'God damn thing.' Fletcher grumbled as he body slowly woke up and his mind spooled back up to speed. A quick glance at a clock revealed he'd gotten a little over seven hours of sleep. 'Fucking thing.' Sighing the human stood and turned to inspect just what he'd deactivated. It was in fact a keypad to an additional room he'd never explored, mostly due to time constraints and because it was always red to indicate it was locked. Now it was green. Curiosity taking over, Fletcher thumbed the controls and the door slid open. What was inside dumbfounded him.

'No fucking way.' He whispered. Fletcher took a tentative step forward and reached out to touch what was before him. It was a full suit of MJOLNIR armour, but it was different. He studied it with more scrutiny and was surprised to discover it matched his Reach armour exactly. The helmet was the Air Assault variant with the UA/CNM attachment. It had the Tactical/Recon chest and FJ/Para knee guard like his avatar did. Hell it even had the same shoulders. ODST on the right with the UA/Multi-threat on the left, whilst it had the Tactical/UGPS on the wrist and a Soft Case on the thigh. Everything was finished in black, even the visor, although the highlights were in blue. But then it stopped being the same as his Reach armour. Fletcher had used the Infected emblem without a background. Now it was the Seventh Column. Only it wasn't quite what it should be. Each of the smaller lines were now different coloured, corresponding to Twilight and the other's main coat colour whilst the longest column was a vibrant green, representing him presumably.

'The fuck have I got this for?' Fletcher asked no one in particular as he reached for the helmet. It was surprisingly heavy and ominous looking, the black finish and visor giving even him a slight shiver. But could he wear it? Moore had said he didn't have the drive for the armour all those months ago yet here it was, just waiting for him to take it. He replaced the helmet and stared at the armour again. Maybe it was really for him. He was the only one who had access to this place and it was only after his previous armour had been wrecked had this one appeared. Decisions.

'Fuck it.' Fletcher said to himself as he reached for the helmet again and the rest of the armour.

Slowly he suited up and with a final click and hiss the helmet sealed the system and began a start up procedure, listing all the new features it had over the old suit. Like before, it wouldn't augment his physical capabilities and there were only two notable differences. First, this suit was much more resilient than the other, on par with the MJOLNIR Mark VI in terms of durability. Secondly, it no longer had stealth capabilities. Instead it had shields. Fletcher grinned a little as he activated them and watched the small bar into the upper right-hand corner rapidly fill up. It seemed they were based off the shields of the Mark VI as well. Now all he needed was a replacement for both the MA5K and the M6/SOCOM.

Ponyville was awash with noise as soldiers prepared defences and readied weapons for the upcoming assault on Canterlot. The normally small and quiet town had been filled with nearly a thousand soldiers with more to come. Blazing Saddles was looking over his sword when a young Pegasus soldier landed with a flurry of feathers.

'Sir Saddles! I've spotted something coming from the south and it doesn't look like anything I've ever seen before.' The unicorn grabbed his sword and motioned for the Pegasus to show him to possible threat. They both stopped on the edge of town atop a hastily erected post and strained to see off into the distance.

'Where did you see this thing?' Saddles asked.

'About five miles away from town. The dust it threw up was enormous.' The soldier replied. Saddles just nodded as he continued to scan the horizon for the dust column. Then he spotted it.

'Mobilise a wing to go out and see what it is, but do not attack unless attacked first.'

'Yes sir.' The Pegasus flew away to gather six others and sped off to see what was heading towards the town. Saddles could only look on as the seven ponies grew to be small specks and circled the mysterious thing. His heart almost stopped when they did a series of runs over it. It started beating again when they returned back to base. The Pegasus from before walked over.

'Report.' Saddles ordered.

'I-I'm not sure, Sir. It looks like a scorpion but it's way too big and made of metal. The stinger tracked us for a few seconds then went back to aiming straight ahead.'

'Did it have any markings at all?' The Pegasus nodded.

'Marines, I think. Does that mean anything to you sir?'

'No. How long until it reaches here, best guess?' Saddles asked. Thought the scorpion hadn't attacked the seven ponies he'd sent that still didn't mean it was friendly.

'About ten minutes sir. The thing was going slowly.'

'All right. I want everypony on alert for when this thing gets here, ready for anything.'

'Yes sir.' The Pegasus saluted and ran off to distribute the orders. Within minutes the entire town had been readied for battle, the civilians ushered inside and the soldiers manning their posts. By now they could hear the low squeal of metal tracks as the thing came into view.

'All soldiers, stand ready!' Saddles called out. Instantly the ponies snapped up whatever weapons they had, a mixture of swords and combat spells, and waited for the creature to come into range.

'All soldiers, prepare to engage!' The swords were raised higher and the spells charged up. Saddles eyed the machine as it drew closer then stopped just in front of one of the many barricades set up by the soldiers. A clank sounded as a small hatch popped open, causing all of the gathered ponies to flinch. As they continued to watch a figure hauled itself out of the machine and stared at them all.

'What the hell kind of welcome is this?' it asked, dismounting and drawing a strange object from its back. Saddles scrutinised the figure for a moment.

'All soldiers, stand down! It's friendly.' He ordered as he realised it was the human he and his men had rescued a week ago. 'Sorry about that Sir Fletcher.' The unicorn strode out to the human, staring at the armour he now wore. Before it had been mottled green and covered in dents. Now it was matte black with uniform patches of blue up and down it. But the most disconcerting thing was the fact he couldn't see the human's face. In it's place was a featureless expanse of black and it unnerved the unicorn.

'Don't worry.' Fletcher said. 'I think I'd probably respond the same way.' He clamped his weapon onto his back and leaned against his machine.

'Again, sorry. But now you're here, perhaps we can discuss the upcoming attack on Canterlot?' Saddles offered. Fletcher nodded and followed the pony. Around them the soldiers left their posts and returned to whatever duties they had before. Saddles smiled in satisfaction at this. His men knew exactly what to do without being told. The human though, Saddles felt uneasy about. He was an unknown, a danger. The unicorn knew nothing about him aside from his name and the fact he was both a Knight and Royal Guard working directly for the princesses. But his weapons, his armour and even his species were beyond Saddles' knowledge. They reached the recently rebuilt town hall and made their way to the top floor where Saddles was planning to wrestle control of Canterlot back into pony hooves.

'So, what's the plan?' Fletcher asked. He leaned over the main table and scanned the map on it.

'We assault at dawn by the main gates, then move up along the central road here to the inner wall of the castle.' Saddles explained, tracing the route with his hoof. 'From here we'll split into two different groups. One will tackle the castle whilst the other will link up with the Ponies Front of Canterlot and remove the remaining griffins as a threat.'

'Any problems that you can think of?'

'The main gates really.' Saddles told him. 'Since you broke free in that machine of yours-'

'Tank.' Fletcher corrected.

'Right, tank.' Saddles continued. 'Since you broke free they rebuilt the gates to be sturdier than before. I don't think we have the right equipment to break through them.'

'I'll do it.' the human said without hesitation. His unicorn companion blinked.

'How?'

'I have my ways.' Saddles shook his head as his unease at the human grew. 'How many are going to assault the city in total?'

'Just under fifteen hundred if we include the Ponies Front.'

'How will it be coordinated?'

'By Pegasi messengers. We've drawn from the local residents all those willing to help and given them basic training.'

'Right. And how many did you manage to get?' Saddles shifted through his notes.

'Around thirty in total. All males.'

'When will you be attacking?'

'Now you're here?' Saddles asked. Fletcher nodded. 'The next few days. It'll take us that long to make our way to the gates and prepare the assault. After that we should be done within a week to completely eradicate the griffin presence.'

'How can I help?'

'You can help by leading the initial charge into the city then assist with clearing the castle. Your skills would be a great use to us.'

'Got it.' Before Saddles could say anything else the human stood and left. The unicorn watched from his window as he returned to his tank and drove further into the town. Now alone he sat down and mulled over his encounter with the fabled Fletcher. He seemed to be like any other soldier Saddles had met before, quiet and observant. But there was something else. Something different. The ponies under Saddles' command were professional and followed protocol. But Fletcher seemed more undisciplined in some respects, but not in others. He screamed of military service, and a demanding one at that, yet equally he seemed like a civilian. Just small things like the way he held himself weren't military but the way he studied maps and the subtle checks for danger were the markings of a veteran. Saddles leaned back and pondered the human. Most of the ponies around Ponyville had spoken highly of Fletcher, especially that grey Pegasus. Derpy, was it? None had a bad word to say about him, so why should he care if the human acted like both a civilian and a veteran at the same time? He shouldn't. Saddles closed his eyes, running through the upcoming battle in his mind and tried to factor in the appearance of the tank and its driver. Now that thing truly scared him. It was big, dangerous looking and more than likely lethal. Especially if Fletcher was the pilot. A knock announced the presence of somepony.

'Enter.' Saddles called out. The door opened and a single pony, judging by the hoofsteps, walked in.

'Sorry to interrupt sir, but we've received the latest reconnaissance reports from our scouts.'

'And?' Saddles asked, not bothering to open his eyes.

'It seems the griffins have doubled their numbers since the last time. They now have over six thousand troops stationed in Canterlot alone.' Saddles groaned in disbelief but held his hoof out for the papers. The pony placed the papers into his waiting hoof.

'How accurate are these numbers?' Saddles sat up and studied the mass of paper.

'Very sir. Three separate sources confirmed it.' the pony answered. He shifted on his hooves, hating to be the one who delivered the bad news.

'Horsesapples.' Saddles whispered.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Twelve

It felt odd to be back in Ponyville after so long in Canterlot and enemy territory. The small town hadn't grown much since he'd last seen it properly, with the exception of the town hall. Fletcher grinned a little as he remembered demolishing it with Shelia, now parked next to Sugarcube Corner, to ensure the griffins wouldn't attack him and the girls. Around him as he walked the local residents gave him mixed reactions. Some were happy to see him again after nearly two years whilst others were scared at his new armour. The black finish and visor were intimidating to the ponies, civilians and soldiers alike, especially if he was holding his rifle across his chest. But that was slung across his back for the moment. He idly felt one of the many new pouches on his chest, making sure the crystal was still there. It was. His hand dropped and brushed against the Soft Case on his thigh. It was empty. What exactly would he put in there? He had no personal belongings with him, his iPod had broken along with his old armour and anything he did own was still in the castle and most likely trashed by now. Fletcher frowned at the thought. He didn't own much, just a few trinkets, but it all held some small value to him. The key to his first house, a thank you card from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Hoofton's old horn. Worthless to others, priceless to him.

'Sir Fletcher?' The human looked up to see one of Blazing Saddles' soldiers. 'Captain Saddles wishes to speak with you urgently.'

'Lead the way.' Fletcher followed the pony to one of the various barricades set up around Ponyville. Saddles was sat on top of it, staring out towards Canterlot. He waved the soldier away and motioned for Fletcher to join him.

'Problem?' The human asked as he sat down. Saddles nodded and levitated a scroll over.

'Canterlot now has over six thousand griffin troops occupying it with more to come. It just threw my plans out the window.'

'So what will you do now? Give up?' Fletcher asked as he scanned the paper. It was a mass of numbers and scribbles detailing troop strengths in the city and their various positions.

'No. The attack goes ahead as planned.' Saddles said. 'I just wish we had more troops.'

'You have me and Shelia.'

'That tank thing?' Saddles asked, getting a nod in response. 'Thanks, but we're outnumbered four to one at best. Even with that machine we'd struggle. Those griffins are hardened soldiers with good training.'

'And I'm better than them, hands down.'

'Arrogant, much?' Saddles muttered.

'No. Just talking from experience.' Fletcher shot back as he pulled up the maps of Canterlot on his UGPS, marking out the best route for Shelia. There weren't many for him to use, either too narrow or didn't go anywhere near the castle. 'Whatever happened to the soldiers based in Baltimare? They escaped the griffin army last I checked.'

'They did. But we haven't managed to find them at all.' Saddles sighed. 'If we could link up with them, we might just have a chance.'

'But you don't you will link up, do you?'

'No. A few of my soldiers came from Baltimare after it fell. They told me the rest of them were heading as far north as they could but beyond that, it's a mystery.'

'So we're outnumbered four to one at best, six at worst, with no chance of backup?' Fletcher asked.

'Yes.' Saddles responded despondently.

'Sounds fair to me.' Fletcher said, closing his maps. The unicorn beside him just stared with a look of disbelief.

'Fair? They outnumber us with solid defences and any other number of things we know nothing about and it's fair?' Saddles yelled. Fletcher just nodded.

'Consider me an indestructible master of war. It took sixty of them to bring me down and that was without my new armour or Shelia. Now it would probably take twice that.' He stood. 'I'll get her ready for the attack. Send a messenger when you launch it.' The unicorn merely nodded as Fletcher left and returned to the Scorpion tank. She was fully loaded with HE shells and machine gun rounds, her fuel cell was nearly full and her electronic suite was fully functioning. Fletcher climbed onto the main body and leaned against the turret, thinking over the battle plan Saddles had come up with. He would be at the front of the attack, blasting to gates open before rolling through the streets and engaging any griffin emplacements until they reached the castle. From there he would lead the group of soldiers tasked with clearing and holding it until the city was secure. Then, and only then, could he release the princess and the others from the cube. It would be odd to have a chain of command again. He'd been on his own for too long in his mind.

The turret swivelled to track the griffins as they flew past but neither the cannon or the machine gun spoke. Instead Fletcher watched them go, letting a wing of Pegasi engage them instead. The three griffins were quickly beaten, allowing the column of ponies and Fletcher to continue. It had been three days since they'd left Ponyville and Canterlot was a mere two miles away. Fletcher ran another check over every system on the tank, nodding in satisfaction when it came back green. He hadn't fired a single shell or round, allowing the ponies under Saddles' command deal with any griffins, but that was about to change. With a final corner the gates to Canterlot came into view and Fletcher slowed, popping the hatch. Saddles jumped onto the track pod and leaned in.

'What now?' Fletcher asked.

'Begin the attack. Just get those gates open and push on to the castle.' Saddles told him.

'Got it.' Fletcher pulled the hatch shut as Saddles leapt back down and rolled the tank forward until the gates were within range of the main cannon. He thumbed the trigger and sent the first of several shells downrange, aiming for the hinges. Wood splintered and rock cracked as the HE shells found their targets and brought the gates down. Immediately griffins poured out and began firing arrows at him. Laughing, Fletcher activated the machine gun and cut them down where they stood, occasionally unleashing another shell from the main cannon. As he did, pony soldiers formed up either side of him and slowly made their way forward under the cover of the tank. Fletcher waited until they were drawing level him then gently eased the acceleration yoke forward, pulling ahead of them whilst firing at the griffins. Shelia growled as she was forced over the remains of the gates and several griffins before entering the city proper.

The tank made things easier but it was still tough going. From the maps he had, Fletcher had managed to find a suitable path for Shelia but it was indirect and at times led him away from the castle. Throughout it all the griffins continued to hamper his progress by constructing barricades or sending dozens of their men to attack. Fletcher grunted in annoyance as another group appeared and began hurling arrows at him and the ponies. None of the griffins managed to put even a scratch into his armour but did manage to wound a number of ponies. Sustained fire from the machine gun soon reduced the attacking griffins to bloody piles and the assault force continued onwards. Then they got stuck.

News of the tank had to have reached the griffin command as soon as it came into view at the gates. But up until now all they had sent were woefully inadequate lances of griffins against it only for them to die. It had never crossed Fletcher's mind it was a delaying tactic. He rolled the tank round a corner and saw the only bridge big and strong enough to carry the tank, as well as three griffins holding some string. He hit the magnification and saw it was in fact a fuse that trailed over the side of the bridge. The griffins spotted him, lit a match then grinned as they ignited the fuse and flew away, only to get cut down by machine gun fire. But their job was done. As Fletcher looked on the bridge exploded, denying him access by tank to the castle. He swore as he popped the hatch and jumped out. Saddles was by his side instantly.

'Can't you get across some other way?' The tank had given them a distinct advantage and without it the fight would be that much harder.

'No. Bastards knew I'd have to come this way.' Fletcher griped as he drew his rifle and walked towards the next bridge. 'You coming?' The unicorn nodded as he followed the human, curious to see his fighting skills outside of the tank. They led the surviving ponies down numerous streets, following the UGPS on Fletcher's armour until the group arrived at a smaller bridge. It was crowded with griffins and barricades.

'Horsesapples.' Saddles muttered. Fletcher just looked at him then stepped out, rifle raised, and headed towards the foot of the bridge. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'My job.' Fletcher told the unicorn as he began firing on the nearest griffins. Saddles and the rest of his men could only look on in disbelief as the lone human casually walked up to the first barricade and eliminated the eight griffins there. He then carried on, ducking under swords and hammers, pushing further along the bridge. At one point a lucky griffin managed to land a powerful blow to his chest. Instead of falling, an orange aura of some kind surrounded Fletcher as he span around and fired a burst from his rifle. The unlucky soldier fell as the human continued his solitary attack, having now cleared half the bridge. Not wanting to let Fletcher take all the credit, Saddles ordered all of his troops to advance across the walkway. They charged, yelling as they did and soon joined the fray.

Swords clashed as soldiers on both sides battled for dominance. Amidst it all, Fletcher continued to fire into the griffins and fight across the bridge. He was pissed that the griffins had managed to take away Shelia as a contender in the battle and furious he'd let it happen. He chided himself as he smashed the butt of his rifle into the back of one unlucky soldier for thinking that. He couldn't have known they'd blow the only bridge Shelia could use. So far all they'd used were arrows and swords, not explosives. Another griffin was clubbed to the ground, this time Fletcher snapped it's neck with his foot as a third brought a sword down on his arm. It glanced off the shields, making them flare, and earning it's owner a burst of fire from Fletcher. By now the griffins were being pushed back and nearly off of the bridge. Their numbers had dropped from the original seventy to less than ten, who now cowered behind a final blockade. Fletcher held up a fist, signalling the others to stop, then threw a primed grenade behind the mass of rubble. It detonated and turned the hiding soldiers into tenderised meat.

'Remind me to never get him angry at me.' one pony muttered to another as Fletcher slid a new magazine home and carried on. His friend merely nodded, staring in awe and horror at the sight of ten dead griffins. It wasn't pretty. Now free of the tank the ponies, led by Fletcher, sprinted along the most direct route to the castle. Any griffins were put down with a mixture of combat spells and Fletcher's rifle. Eventually the eight or nine hundred surviving ponies made it to the castle gates, sealed against intruders and heavily fortified from the outside.

'Now what?' Saddles asked. He was out of his league on this, having seen the human in action and allowing the seemingly more experienced soldier to lead. Fletcher studied the wall and the gates, muttering to himself.

'We break in.' He replied, taking off his rucksack and selecting two boxes. 'Give me a few minutes to get set then wait for the gates to fall before entering.' As Saddles and a few others watched Fletcher withdrew the SMG and the rocket launcher along with nearly a dozen spare magazines for the silenced weapon and two reloads for the heavy weapon. Clamping the launcher into place he readied the smaller weapon and sprinted for one section of the wall, climbing up a crumbling face amid storms of arrows. Each impact made his shields flare but did no serious damage. With a final leap he made it to the top of the wall, spraying the griffins there with a full clip and ending them. Using his momentary freedom Fletcher drew the rocket launcher and ran to get a better view of the gates, taking aim on the nearest hinge and unleashing a double salvo at them. He reloaded and repeated this twice, taking out a second hinge and the main beam preventing the gates from moving. As soon as they sagged open he clamped the launcher onto his back and brought the holstered SMG up. Ponies swarmed into the courtyard, clashing with the shocked and dazed griffins. Fletcher jumped down to join them, firing on anything with feathers and claws, and made his way to the main doors into the castle. A small lance of griffins tried to stop him but ultimately failed as he reached the top of the steps, shooting the griffins he could accurately engage without risking friendly fire. Slowly the number of enemy combatants outside slowly diminished until there were none left. Saddles immediately gave the order for his remaining soldiers to form up into their designated groups and dispatched them. Half of them left to meet up with the Ponies Front of Canterlot whilst the other half formed up around the doors. Fletcher placed a hand on the ornate door handle, SMG in the other, and glanced at Saddles. He nodded. The human took a steadying breath then yanked the door open, diving headfirst in and firing at any and all bad guys.

It would be another ten days before Canterlot was fully recaptured and over three hundred griffins taken prisoner. All the others died defending their positions to the last. Even with Fletcher's help, pony casualties were horrific. Of the original thousand, only three hundred or so came away with minor injuries, the rest ranged from moderate to crippling and required intense medical attention or burial. Saddles would shake his head whenever he thought of it or saw a splash of blood yet to be cleaned. Fletcher, meanwhile, was checking over Shelia in the courtyard. With the help of several unicorns they'd managed to get it across the broken bridge and up to the castle where it now sat. Aside from numerous scratches and a coating of blood and dust, the tank was in prime condition. The human hopped down from one of the track pods and dusted his hands down, satisfied she was running smoothly. He turned away from the war machine and into the castle, noting the mass of bullet holes everywhere. It hadn't been easy taking the castle back and many had paid with their lives to get it back. Following his trail of destruction the human made his way to the throne room, noting with satisfaction the posters proclaiming griffin superiority were gone. In their place were the banners proudly displaying the cutie marks of Celestia and Luna. Fletcher's hand instinctively reached for the cube.

'Ah, Fletcher. Good to see you again.' Saddles called from one of several desks now spread out through the room. On it were the latest casualty reports for both civilians and soldiers.

'Likewise.' The human said back. 'We good?'

'Yes. My troops have secured all of Canterlot and the remaining griffin troops.' Saddles looked up. 'Is it time to get the princesses back?' Fletcher nodded.

'But everything you're about to see is not to leave this room at all.' He reached for the cube but didn't take it out. 'If you do tell anyone, I have every right to eliminate them and you. Understand?' He fixed the unicorn with a steady gaze.

'I understand.'

'Good.' Fletcher retrieved the cube and held it up to the light, as if inspecting for damage. There was none and the rainbow hue was as strong and vibrant as ever. Saddles looked on in curiosity and confusion as Fletcher began the release procedure, then yelled out in surprise as sixteen ponies suddenly flashed in existence. They all staggered a little, uneasy after the transition. Fletcher and Saddles bowed to the princess. Celestia glanced between the two, doing a double take when she registered Fetcher's new armour. The Alicorn stepped closer, wary of him.

'Michael? Is that you?' Celestia asked. He nodded, removing the helmet to confirm it. 'You've changed.'

'I got an upgrade after my old armour broke. Still me though.' Behind the princess the others were finally getting their bearings back and recognised where they were. Ever the soldier Saddles immediately reported to Shining Armour, giving him a brief run down over what had happened.

'I assume Canterlot has been brought back under our control?'

'Yes ma'am. Took us a while but we drove them out. Kind of.' Fletcher donned his helmet again. 'We managed to capture three hundred POWs out of six thousand. They really didn't want to surrender. And sorry about the mess I caused getting here.' The Alicorn raised an eyebrow.

'Is it your usual level of mess or worse?'

'Worse, I think. One bridge, dozens of houses, four wooden gates and numerous craters along the roads. Add to that gallons of blood and crushed slabs? Yeah, probably my worse mess so far.' Celestia could tell that behind his blackened visor he was grinning. 'So what now?'

'Get some rest. You've been on your own for an unheard of length of time.' Celestia advised. 'Then we can begin retaking the rest of Equestria.'


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Thirteen

Fletcher shifted in his bed, trying to get used to the softness once again after months of sleeping on nothing but dirt, wafer thin mattresses and stone floors. It seemed that he developed a taste for the uncomfortable during his travels and was having trouble readjusting. Perhaps it was a reflex to stop him from dropping his guard. After months of being deployed or captured it felt unnatural to relax. Giving up the human swung his legs out of bed and reached for some of the clothes he had for when he wasn't encased in his armour. That was currently resting in one corner, still managing to look ominous and dangerous empty. Fletcher paused long enough to grab his pistol and place in a small holster sown into the thigh. He yawned as he opened the plain doors of his room, stepping out onto the cold stone floor of the castle. Maybe he could find another insomniac and chat until one or both parties fell asleep.

The castle was deathly silent, most of the usual staff asleep or missing. But as Fletcher wandered through it he could just pick up on small sounds. The creaking of contracting wood, the occasional snore, the odd hoofstep. Night staff most likely, but not anyone he wanted to talk to. He made random turns until he passed a room with a faint flicker of torchlight coming from under the door. He knocked.

'Who is it?' a timid voice called out.

'Housekeeping.' Fletcher replied sarcastically. The door opened a fraction and Fluttershy peered out.

'Oh, hello Michael. What are you doing up?' She opened the door wider and allowed light to spill into the hallway.

'Can't sleep. You?'

'I can't either. Princess Celestia said there would be some side effects of being in the cube for so long.' She paused. 'Do you want to come in? I've got some cake from earlier.'

'Sounds good.' The Pegasus stepped back into her room and took up position on a small couch. Fletcher followed and settled into a chair, drawing his pistol and it besides him on the floor. Fluttershy looked uneasy at the sight of it. 'Rule number one of being an ODST is never go anywhere unarmed.'

'Oh. Do you have a lot of rules?'

'A few. But you only need to be concerned with rule number two.'

'Which is?'

'Stay loyal to the Corps. Or in this case, you girls and the princesses.'

'Did you fight in a lot of battles before coming here?' She asked, handing over some of the cake. Fletcher took a bite before speaking.

'Yes. And none of them were pretty.' Foreign memories of fighting the Covenant and the Flood intruded into his mind, along with feelings of terror and anger. Fletcher shook them from his head. 'And far worse compared to what I've done here.' The yellow pony just hummed in acknowledgment, taking a small bite of her cake.

'Were you ever scared?' she eventually asked.

'When?'

'Fighting the Flood and the Covenant.' Fluttershy elaborated.

'Yes.' Fletcher answered. 'But you learn to lock it away inside a dark part of your mind, or turn it into anger.'

'Why anger?'

'To use it against the enemy. Get mad at them for making you scared in the first place. For attacking you.' He paused. 'For dragging you away from your family. It-it's a great motivator when you're facing something two foot taller than you with nothing but a knife.'

'You actually did that?' Fluttershy was looking at him with a mixture of fear and fascination.

'Yeah. More than once.' Fletcher knew he'd never actually done any of that, but it felt like he had in another life. 'Even took one Brute's head as a reward but I lost it in a drunk game of poker.' Fluttershy's look of fear changed to one of revulsion at the thought of taking another creature's head as a trophy. Fletcher noticed her expression and quickly changed the subject towards something decidedly less gruesome.

'So, how was life inside the Cube?' he asked.

'It was nice.' She told him. 'Quiet, safe and relaxed. My house was full of little animals that I could care for, all my closest friends were there and Pinkie would always throw these parties when we felt a little down.' Fluttershy smiled a little at the memories. Fletcher said nothing. Instead he took another bite out of his piece of cake. He looked up when the Pegasus let out a small sniffle.

'You okay?' Fletcher asked, looking up to see her crying slightly.

'Y-yes. I'm fine. Just...' she trailed off. 'Just thinking of Angel.' Fletcher looked down at the mention of the dead rabbit. Technically Angel was his first kill on Equestria, unlucky enough to be underneath the drop pod as it landed years ago. There'd been a brief memorial service, no burial. What hadn't been crushed under the impact of the pod had been incinerated by the braking rockets.

'Sorry about that.' Fletcher said quietly.

'Thank you.' Fluttershy whispered. 'But you couldn't have known he was there, could you?'

_I didn't even know I was there, _Fletcher thought. 'I guess.' he said. 'Those pods aren't exactly famous for their accuracy.'

'Oh.' Fluttershy finished off her cake and set the plate down on the floor. 'Is it scary doing that? The pod thing.' Fletcher shook his head, grinning wildly.

'Hell no. Best damn ride ever invented and I was paid to go on it almost every week.'

'It wasn't scary?'

'Well, the first time maybe. But then the adrenaline kicks in and you soon forget about everything but the drop and what comes afterwards.' Fletcher leaned back, reliving the only drop he could remember and the giddy sense he'd felt after the door had blown off.

'Could-could you teach me how to not be scared? If you don't mind that is.' Fluttershy trailed off, hiding behind her mane.

'I could but I channel my fear into rage and fury, just like I was taught at Basic.' Fletcher thought over how he could explain it. 'The Corps didn't want Marines who'd lock up in battle; they wanted Marines who could fight through anything. So they taught us to take our fear and turn it into a deadly weapon. I don't know how to make that work for you.'

'So you can't help me?' she asked, appearing out from behind her mane.

'Never said that. Just that I don't know how to make my method work for you. Like I said before, we were trained to use it as a motivator in the midst of battle. Not for whatever you want it for.' He paused. 'What do you want it for?'

'I-I just do.' Fluttershy turned a faint shade of pink. Fletcher just raised an eyebrow, guessing he knew what she wanted to overcome her fear of.

'Yeah, my method gets aggression, not courage to ask someone out.' Fluttershy just hid behind her mane again. 'If you want help with asking a stallion out, talk to Rainbow Dash or Rarity. They would have more knowledge about it than me. I just know how to blow shit up.'

'Oh, I see.' She mumbled. 'Thanks anyway.'

'It's fine.' Fletcher said back. 'Do I know this stallion?'

'No. He came to Ponyville after you left for Canterlot.' The Pegasus looked down. 'I just hope he was okay when the griffins attacked.' Her small frame began to shake as tears of worry rolled down her cheeks.

'You like him, don't you?' he asked. Fluttershy just nodded as more tears began to flow. Fletcher got out of his chair and sat down beside the weeping mare, pulling her into a hug in an attempt to comfort her. She collapsed and began sobbing in earnest, soaking his shirt. The human just let her, stroking her mane gently and waited for her finish crying.

He awoke with a start, hand instantly reaching for his pistol only to find it wasn't there. Panic began to take root until his mind finally registered where he was. Fletcher blinked, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes, and slowly eased a still sleeping Fluttershy from his lap. As soon as she was off he reached for his pistol and slid it into its holster. The weight was reassuring. Behind him Fluttershy began to wake up, stretching and yawning as she did so.

'G-g-good morning Michael.' She said, still yawning as her wings unfolded.

'Morning.' He said back. 'Sleep well?'

'Not as well as I'd have liked.' Fluttershy looked down. 'I-I kept dreaming about him being hurt by the griffins.'

'Soon as we head out, we'll make it a priority to check on him. Okay?' Fletcher asked. He waited until he got a nod and a weak smile before leaving, bumping into Rarity on the way out.

'Oh, hello Michael. How are you?' she asked. Her mane was immaculate, not a hint she'd been asleep at all.

'Fine. And yourself?'

'Better now we're out of that cube thing.' She cast a curious eye at the door Fletcher had just emerged from. 'Darling, why exactly were you in Fluttershy's room?'

'She couldn't sleep and neither could I so we ended up talking for a bit. Then she started to worry over something and began crying. So I just stayed with her until she stopped.' He scratched his head. 'Well, I may have dozed off after she did.'

'What was she worrying about?' Rarity asked, instantly concerned for her friend.

'I-I'll let her tell you that. Excuse me.' He pushed past the unicorn and carried on until he was back in his room. The armour was still where he'd left it, still ominous and dangerous. Fetcher locked his door and began exchanging his tear stained clothes for the MJOLNIR armour. It was a slow process, the pieces being much heavy than the SPI armour he'd had before. But the pieces slowly slotted into place and the sheilds came online with a satisfying hum. The rifle clamped into place as did the pistol along with nearly two dozen clips of ammunition for both and four grenades. Now prepped for combat, he left his room and went out to find the princesses.

Shelia lumbered down the dirt track, jostling the ponies sat on the four track pods as they tried to stay on her. Above them, Celestia, Luna, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash kept pace with the tracked vehicle as it touched level ground and sped up, aiming for Ponyville. Why they'd decided to take the tank instead of chariot, Fletcher would never know. He was just glad he had some heavy firepower for this little trip. Canterlot may have been liberated but Ponyville was still vulnerable from attack. He eased the tank to a gentle stop outside Sugarcube Corner, supressing a grin as all four ponies jumped down and hugged the ground.

'Unbelievable.' He muttered, stepping out of the tank and drawing his rifle. A few ponies gathered round at the sight of Shelia and her pilot before bowing as both princesses landed. The sisters greeted them before walking over to Fletcher. He nodded in greeting ashe scanned the crowd for threats. More than a few shied away at the scrutiny.

'Michael, perhaps you could remove your helmet and rifle?' Celestia asked, noticing the discomfort of the ponies. Fletcher shook his head.

'We're in a combat zone. No can do.' The Alicorn sighed.

'Ponyville isn't a threat. The last few griffins were driven off weeks ago and everypony here is friendly.'

'With all due respect ma'am, I didn't get to be a seven year veteran by letting my guard down.' He rounded on her. 'Just because you think it's safe doesn't mean it is. Plenty of guys I knew died because they thought that. I don't want to follow them.' Celestia began to open her mouth and reprimand Fletcher but he turned his back to her and continued to scan for threats. More ponies started to look away and move away. Celestia sighed again and went over to Twilight and the others, Luna close behind and Fletcher just after her.

'Does it feel strange being back in Ponyville after so long?' she asked, her mood improving. The girls nodded but Fluttershy seemed anxious and kept looking around for something. 'Is something wrong, Fluttershy?'

'Oh, no. I just, um.' She trailed off, trying to think of a reason. Fletcher caught her eye and nodded. 'I-I just need to check on somepony.' Fluttershy blushed very faintly as she took off towards the southern part of town. Her friends just looked at each other puzzled.

'What the hay does she mean by that?' Rainbow Dash asked, watching the receeding figure of the yellow Pegasus. 'Fluttershy doesn't have that many friends in town.'

'Does she share evrything with you, RD?' Applejack questioned, getting a shake of the head in response. 'So maybe she made some new friends we don't know about.'

'I guess.' Rainbow Dash conceeded. With that the remaining ponies went their seperate ways to check on life in town and see what damage had been done, leaving the two Alicorns and Fletcher alone. He stood behind them, silent, and waited for them to move somewhere. Eventually they headed towards the town hall and to the remenants of the army command that had liberated Canterlot. It had slowly turned back into a centre of bureaucracy for the small town and was now dealing with the insurance claims and wills of those affected by the attack and occupation of Ponyville. As they drew closer Fluttershy burst out of the main doors and ran into the surrounding houses. Fletcher looked at the princesses who merely nodded for him to go after her. The human took off after the fleeing Pegasus, eventually finding her sobbing underneath one of the many trees in the park. He kneeled down next to her.

'I'm sorry.' Fletcher said softly, holstering his rifle. 'When did it happen?'

'Tw-tw-two days af-after you rescued us.' She managed between sobs. 'A-a bunch of griffins were ro-rounding up stallions to-to...' Fluttershy descended into a fresh wave of tears as she thought of what had happened again. Fletcher felt uncomfortable in this situation. He'd never had to comfort anyone in this state before. He tentatively reached out with his hand and placed it on the crying Pegasus' back, hoping it would bring comfort. Fletcher looked round, trying to spot a pony who could help him out but saw none. He sighed and scooped up Fluttershy in his arms and began carrying her back to where he'd last seen the princesses. Both Celestia and Luna were sat outside the town hall still but rose and hurried to join him when they saw Fluttershy.

'What happened?' Luna asked, helping ease the pony to the ground.

'She found out a pony she really liked was killed a few days after she was evacuated.' Fletcher told them. 'She's been like this ever since I caught up with her.'

'Did Fluttershy say anything at all?' Celestia was looking over the mare now.

'Nothing other than what I told you.' Fletcher answered. A crowd had started to gather around the four of them and word soon spread through town. Within minutes Twilight and the others raced over. Fletcher stood to allow them room and resumed his duty as a guard, drawing his rifle again and watching the crowd. They all wore looks of concern as Fluttershy was carried from her position on the floor into a nearby house. Rainbow Dash sped off to the hospital, returning with a doctor and nurse within ten minutes. Throughout it all Fletcher stopped outside, deterring any from getting inside. Then all hell broke loose.

From the south, dozens of black specs appeared just above the horizon which quickly resolved into four separate lances of griffins. Fletcher was watching the north so his only warning was when most of the ponies gathered outside began screaming and pointing upwards at an unseen threat. The human snapped his rifle up in time to see the first of forty griffins begin their attack. He swore as he pulled the trigger and the third Battle of Ponyville erupted in a flurry of feathers and brass casings.

The ponies tending to Fluttershy snapped their heads up at the sound of screaming and muted gunfire. Rainbow Dash crept to the window and peered out to see Michael being attacked by dozens of griffins from all sides.

'Uh, guys?' she called out. 'We might have a small problem.' Her friends rushed to the window, giving off similar reactions of shock and fear at the number of soldiers outside. As they watched a single griffin peeled off of the attack and dove straight for them, smashing through the window and clawing at them. The girls shrieked and backed away as it squeezed in through the frame and advanced towards them. Celestia and Luna jumped in front of them, horns charged with magic. The griffin froze, not expecting the presence of the two princesses.

'Leave now and you won't get hurt.' Celestia told him in an even tone. She and Luna fixed the griffin with a steely gaze and took one step towards the feathered soldier. In response he took a step back. Then dropped dead. A familiar armoured figure stepped into view; it's back to them and firing at a multitude of griffins trying to break in through both front windows and the door. Fletcher waved for the ponies duck as he reached for a grenade and threw it into the window on the left whilst unleashing an entire magazine from his rifle into the one on the right. The grenade detonated and blew the attacking griffins to ribbons whilst the ones on the right were riddled with bullet holes. Fletcher reloaded and began firing at the griffins attempting to break the door down. He fired another magazine into the wooden portal, noting with satisfaction at the amount of blood seeping in through the cracks.

The battle lasted for another twenty minutes as more griffins would try in vain to break past Fletcher. Of the original forty, two survived. The human watched them go as the princesses and the Elements emerged from their temporary refuge.

'Guess this means I can go see the queen again, huh?' Fetcher asked as Celestia stood next to him. She just nodded. 'This is going to be fun.'


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively. I own Michael Fletcher.**

Chapter Fourteen

Griffonia was in flames as trebuchet after trebuchet launched rocks and fire over the city walls. It had been like this for the past five days, pony war machines raining devastation into the capital to soften it up for the main attack. Fletcher was stood on the turret of Shelia, watching impassively as another salvo of fire was launched and scored direct hits on unseen targets. Griffin soldiers would occasionally emerge from the city gates in an attempt to counterattack but recent battles had severely depleted their troop numbers. To say that three months ago during the third Battle of Ponyville they'd had a standing army of nearly half a million they were now down to a fraction of that, all inexperienced novices going up against seasoned warriors. It was almost unfair. Snapping his head away from the distraction, Fletcher jumped off the tank, landing with a muffled thud, and made his way to one of several canvas tents set back from the artillery. He entered the longest and moved to stand around the table set in the middle.

'You guys any closer on a battle plan yet?' Fletcher asked the gathered ponies. 'I'm getting awfully bored with nothing to do.' One of the ponies shrugged.

'Nearly. But our maps have to be constantly updated as the city keeps getting hit. We have Pegasi working round the clock to make them as accurate as possible for the final push.'

'I see.' The human edged closer to the side and peered at the map. 'So what, we just hit them from all sides and meet up at the castle?' Fletcher noted the various markers distinguishing the different elements of the attack and their positions on the map.

'Essentially.' A second pony said. 'We realise the amount of rubble will make it difficult for our troops to advance but there wasn't any other way to soften them up ahead of our attack.'

'There are. You all just refused to use them.' Fletcher muttered. If he'd been given the time and resources, he could have infiltrated the city and introduced a virus to the water supply. Something non-lethal, but crippling in the short term. Yet when he'd proposed the idea to Celestia she'd forbidden it and refused any further discussion.

'We will not stoop to such methods.' The first pony shot back. 'What you proposed would have tarnished our reputation in the eyes of both our people and the other nations.'

'Only if they found out.' He ignored the glares he received and traced the areas marked as rubble. 'I guess this means I can't use Shelia to attack, huh?'

'Correct. But we were going to ask you to avoid using her anyway.'

'Why?' Fletcher asked, snapping his gaze to the pony who'd spoken. 'Shelia is pretty much indestructible against anything the griffins can throw at her.'

'Shelia is also incredibly destructive. We wanted to take the city mostly intact and after seeing the damage you caused Canterlot, it was decided to remove her from the battle.' The pony who had spoken, a unicorn, frowned at the human. 'That goes double for that rocket weapon of yours.' Fletcher held the unicorn's gaze for a brief second before laughing.

'And what makes you think you have the authority to give me orders?' Fletcher retrieved his medallion. 'I only take my orders from the princesses and they gave me free reign over how I deal with things.' He replaced the symbol. 'And I'm using my rocket launcher, no matter what you say.'

'If you're so eager to attack, why are you still here then?'

'My orders are to wait until the main attack commences and meet you at the castle, providing support where it's needed.' He crossed his arms. 'From there, I head into the castle and deliver the queen an ultimatum.'

'By yourself or...?' Another asked.

'Myself. I won't need backup to get in there and others would be a liability.' The human uncrossed his arms and left, heading back towards his tank and lying down on the main body. Fletcher frowned inside his helmet. Over the past three months he'd been at the very front of each attack, neutralising threats the others couldn't deal with. Each time he'd been allowed to use whatever weapon or method he wanted. And now, on the verge of the attack into Griffonia itself, he'd been given a restriction by pompous asses who'd only seen actual combat from afar. Fletcher had lived and breathed it for what felt like his entire life. He knew what worked and what didn't. And taking away the tactical advantage didn't.

'Fuck them.' Fletcher muttered. Unless he received an order from the princesses, the human would take whatever weapons he wanted into battle. And the rocket launcher rated high on his list, along with Shelia. But unfortunately they'd decided to make the city impassable for the tank as well as giving the griffins dozens, if not hundreds of places to hide in.

'Fan-fucking-tastic.' He scowled, more foreign memories of scrabbling through a ruined city springing up. He wasn't able to glean much from it, just a sense of hating every moment. Fletcher shook his head and sighed in frustration, wishing he could just attack and have it all over and done with. But orders were orders. He couldn't break them, especially when the one giving them could banish him to the moon or the sun. Instead he just lay there, listening to the whoosh as another lump of rock or fireball was launched towards Griffonia. Overhead a Pegasus patrol circled and dove for something. What, he didn't care. If they needed him they knew where he was. Fletcher shifted against the tank's hull, deactivating his HUD and settling down to sleep.

Fletcher looked out over the city. It was burning fiercely in places, utterly demolished in others, and overall it was destroyed. But still griffin soldiers would emerge to attack their position. He rolled his eyes as another lance attacked. The ponies didn't even take a single wound as they finished them off.

'Can we begin, please?' he asked as casually as he could, but it still held an impatient undertone. The pony Fletcher was speaking to nodded and gave a series of hoof signals. Immediately the trebuchets ceased firing and Equestrian troops formed up into their respective commands.

'All commands, to your places and begin the attack!' The pony ordered, receiving a battle cry in response.

'Finally.' Fletcher muttered as he drew his rifle and checked he had enough ammo for everything before joining the crowd of ponies in running for the gates to Griffonia. As they advanced griffin archers appeared and started firing indiscriminately into the attacking force. Dozens of ponies were hit, some fatally so, but the rest carried on. Fletcher raised his rifle and fired a brief burst at some of the archers. They fell. Past the gates it looked like a warzone, which it now was. Buildings lay demolished or were burnt shells, and from them poured the few remaining griffin soldiers. Instantly individual battles broke out as ponies clashed with griffins, and a human fought his way through it all.

Above Pegasi ducked and dodged griffin air patrols whilst dropping small explosive devices, designed to stun the enemy rather than cripple them. Two landed near Fletcher, causing his shields to flare and distracting him momentarily. Three griffins seized the opportunity and slammed into him, knocking the rifle away. Fletcher took a moment to regain his senses then drew his knife as the griffin soldiers tried to break through his shields. He shook them off and grabbed the nearest one, slitting his throat with the knife and lashing out with his foot at the second, catching it on the side of it's head. The knife came free as Fletcher dumped the corpse and was thrown at the third griffin as it got up, embedding itself in the chest. As that griffin stared in horror at the weapon, Fletcher wrapped his hands around the griffin he had kicked and snapped it's neck like he would have a chicken. Now free to engage the final threat Fletcher launched himself at the still horrified griffin, slamming into him and driving the knife further in. Blood gushed from the wound as the human pressed his forearm across the griffin's throat, suffocating it. he held his arm there until the griffin gave one final breath and died. Leaving the corpses, Fletcher paused to pick his fallen weapons up and carried on.

To say that it had been bombarded with rocks and fire, the castle was in a decent state. In front of it were the few remaining experienced soldiers. They'd deployed some of the nearby rubble as barricades and had archers posted on the roof, but most alarmingly they had two cannons pointing out into the street. Fletcher backed up until he was gone from their line of sight and relayed his findings to the gathered ponies.

'Four dozen foot soldiers, one dozen archers and two heavy cannons in defensive positions around the main steps.' He reached for his rucksack and brought out the box containing the rocket launcher. The ponies muttered amongst themselves as the heavy weapon was brought out. 'As soon as the cannons are down, head for the line and watch out for arrows.' The ponies nodded and tensed up, ready to start the attack. Fletcher shouldered the launcher and edged out, taking careful aim. He fired once, then twice. As soon as the missiles impacted the ponies ran forward, dodged in random ways to avoid the arrows from above. Fletcher reloaded the now empty weapon and shifted his aim, firing again at the archers hiding behind the ornate stonework of the castle. It provided little protection against the high explosive warheads and soon both stone and blood dropped to the ground. The still smoking weapon was exchanged for the rifle as Fletcher charged forward, adding his firepower to the battle and delivering a morale booster to the ponies and crippling it for the griffins. They were slowly pushed back into the castle, only managing to take down five or six of the attacking force before retreating further inside. Fletcher held up a fist, signalling for them to stop.

'Why have we stopped?' the senior pony soldier half asked, half yelled. 'We have them on the ropes.'

'Because I'm going in alone.' The human told him. 'You and your men wait out here and secure the area. I'll deal with the castle.'

'Why just you?' the pony growled as he stepped in front of Fletcher.

'I know the inside pretty well and it means your men aren't being put at excess risk.' He reloaded his rifle and started to walk inside. 'Plus the queen pretty much said she wouldn't go down without a fight and I'm guessing her guards will be the same.' The grizzled soldier grumbled something and let him past. Fletcher didn't say anything back as he stepped into the castle and made his way to the throne room.

The door flew backwards from the pressure wave generated by the grenade. Fletcher could only hope it hit a soldier along the way. He took a steadying breath then dived through the newly made portal, landing in a crouch and fired a brief series of bursts at the two figures closest to him. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Fletcher noted the position of the remaining griffins and selected the targets which posed the most threat. His mind chose it's targets then ordered his body to eliminate them. With agonising slowness his arms responded and brought the rifle up to the first of the many targets. The rifle fired another brief burst and as soon as the body started to fall Fletcher switched targets and resumed firing until all but one of the griffins were dead. He stood, ejecting the spent magazine and inserted a new one.

'We meet again.' Fletcher said. 'But I'm in control and you've lost.' He stepped forward.

'Believe what you want to, but as long as I'm breathing this war is far from over.' The griffin queen spat back. 'As long as your pathetic princesses are alive, this war isn't over. Not by a long shot.'

'You might want to reconsider that last part.' Fletcher told her. 'See, your city is in ruins. Your army just got destroyed and I have a gun pointed at you. Equestria is starting to rebuild and it has two distinct advantages over you. One being an army. The other being me. We can continue to attack, something I don't mind, but the princesses hate seeing blood spilt anywhere. So I have an offer from them.

'Surrender now and no more death for either side. Don't surrender and we carry on wiping the floor with you.' The queen hissed at him.

'We griffins will never surrender to you. And you wouldn't dare kill me.' Fletcher shrugged.

'Try me. You're standing where Luthor died by my hand during the first Equestrian-Griffin war. I don't have a problem killing royalty. Especially when they piss me off.'

'But aren't you a noble warrior? Killing the royal bloodline isn't noble at all!'

'Who ever said I was noble?' Fletcher asked. 'I killed Luthor because he allowed his daughter to beat a pregnant friend of mine and made her lose her baby. And if you don't surrender I have every right to kill you.'

'Even if I'm pregnant?' the queen asked. 'With the only other griffin who has the right to the throne?'

'I can if you're a hostile target. Pregnant or not, you're still a head of state and under Equestrian war time rules, I can kill you where you stand. So,' He took a step closer. 'Choose between survival or death.' The queen considered it. She chose death and leapt at the waiting human. He just pulled the trigger, catching her in the chest. As she fell, Fletcher nodded to himself.

'Double kill.'

The castle in Canterlot was busy with activity compared to what it had been like four months ago. Fletcher just watched the ponies go about their business, enjoying a brief respite from his schedule. Since returning from Griffonia with an agreement to end the war with the new leader of the griffins he'd had to oversee the transfer of prisoners along with giving a detailed account of what he had done since the princesses had gone inside the cube. Fletcher had glossed over the unimportant stuff, focussing on his attacks of griffin training camps and his capture and the subsequent imprisonment. But now he was just waiting to resume his duties. Both Celestia and Luna had to catch up on literal mountains of paperwork that had accumulated in their absence. Both had refused his help, stating he'd done more than enough and that he should get some rest and recuperation after he'd completed his tasks. But what could he do? He didn't feel like walking through the local forests. He'd spent over a year in total walking through or sleeping in woods and had had enough of them. Though he could always perform some make do work on Shelia, take her for a quick drive to make sure everything was correctly. Maybe even get in some target practise. Then he discarded the idea. Fletcher sighed and stood, his feet feeling the need to move somewhere.

They ended up taking him on a tour of Canterlot, specifically places he'd either blown up or ambushed cultists at. He stopped on a cliff edge and peered down into the pool at the bottom. They never had found the remains of the two ponies he'd thrown over the side. Perhaps they never would. Then he stopped outside the building he'd hidden Shelia in. The wall had been repaired and the cobbles replaced, leaving no trace the sixty-six ton tank had been there. When they wanted to, the ponies of Canterlot could get things done. Too bad it was mostly repairing damage instead of fighting off invading troops. Fletcher shook his head as he moved to another part of the city, coming to a halt in front of a memorial to those who had fallen during the war as well as commemorating those who had survived and performed above and beyond what was expected of them. His name was on there, buried amongst the hundreds of other names. Fletcher looked round at the few ponies paying their respects, receiving one or two nods of gratitude himself. One downside to being so active in the war was thousands of civilians getting a good look at him as he fought off griffins or led rescue attempts. Celestia had officially introduced him to the residents of Canterlot and Equestria during a speech she had given following the conclusion of the war. Fletcher had been bombarded with questions from reporter ponies until Celestia had ordered them away, noticing Fletcher reaching for his pistol. Now everyone knew who he was and thanked him for what he had done, but the human felt it was a little forced from a few of them. War wasn't something they felt comfortable discussing. Seeing someone who's sole purpose was to fight war, it was difficult to know how to respond, especially as they'd just won a war for you.

Fletcher eventually gave up on his tour and returned to the castle, entering the throne room and leant against the wall. Both princesses were still working steadily through the mountains of paper and merely nodded in greetings as he came in. The human bowed in response and settled down for something to happen.

**And done. My thanks to the people who reviewed and followed. May or may not do another Feet First story in the far future but first I have been given a challenge from a friend to write a series of fics. Those will start going up either Saturday or Sunday and have weekly updates. If you want me to carry on with Feet First leave a review or message and when the challenge is done, I will begin again.**

**M306117**


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